We in the news industry aren't blind, and we certainly aren't immune to the rapid pace that our world operates by in this day and age.
It became crystal clear a number of years ago that our world - the physical newspaper world - was sternly moving toward that digital frontier. News in your hands at the touch of a button on your smartphone or tablet, or whenever you're in front of a computer screen. You get the picture.
But having been a newspaper reporter for 17 years - until last March, that is....more on that below - I have to say that I get more than a little annoyed when I read news such as I did earlier this month, when it was announced that the Estevan Mercury, a newspaper that goes back so long that it actually predates the province of Saskatchewan by two years, with its first edition being published in 1903, would shutter its doors and cease production effective immediately.
The Mercury had served the southeast corner of the province for 122 years, with its last edition coming - poetically - on New Year's Day.
Why do I get annoyed? Because in a world where more and more people are cautious of the things they read online because any Joe Schmo can claim to be a reputable and fact-based journalist who does their due diligence, it's never been more important to trust the news that you read. Physical newspapers printed on paper that you can hold and read in your very hands is trusted simply because IT HAS TO BE. Not a word is laid to print and sent off to the publishers unless facts are presented, the homework is done, both sides of any particular issue are presented, and it's all whipped up into an article that's ready to be read and consumed by a reading public.
When you move into the online world, unless you're representing a known, reputable news outlet (very much like SaskToday.ca), then your credibility comes into question, and in turn, so does the content that you're putting out there into Cyber World.
Baseless, opinion-laden "news" is all the rage these days, and it aggravates me when I read of another print publication shutting down production because I thought people were smarter to this rather scary fact.
But the other sad thing is that for a lot of these newspapers, the money just isn't there as far as advertising is concerned.
Here's the kicker, and it's something that I saw time and time again when I actually worked for the community of Outlook's very newspaper, The Outlook.
I would see businesses advertising interesting accomplishments and local organizations advertising upcoming events on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and then our office would get phone calls wondering if I could write a story or two about said accomplishments or upcoming events. What the...?
Many times, I'd just go ahead and write those stories. Other times, I would ignore those requests. And why? Because if you're going to rely on social media to advertise events or spread the word about your business's accomplishments, then what exactly do you need ME for? Let Mark Zuckerberg's crack team of journalists or "content creators" slap something together for you.
What it came down to, in the end, was people wanting to have their cake and eat it too: "We don't want to pay your newspaper's advertising costs in exchange for a little bit of free press. We want to pay nothing to advertise on social media, but we still want you to write something glorious about us."
Sorry to have to break this to you, but the newspaper biz is a two-way street. You want free press and publicity for your businesses or upcoming events? Then pay a few bucks in order to advertise it in your community's newspaper, and everything should come out like roses.
The mindset that I quoted just above makes absolutely no sense to me. Would you walk into a local store and tell them, "I'm not going to give you any money for this product, but I'll go on Facebook and tell them I bought it at your store"?
And hey, we get it. We've heard the same argument time and time again. "No one reads newspapers anymore. Everything is online and I get my news from Facebook or Twitter/X."
Well, Facebook isn't local. Twitter/X isn't local. They don't employ people from the community where you pay your taxes.
Remember the time when Amazon bought cases of popcorn or cookies to support your daughter? Or when Facebook sponsored your church's fundraiser? Or when Google brought free pizza to your kid's football team after they won the championship game? Me neither.
Local dollars means local businesses thrive. Believe it or not, a community newspaper IS a local business in that specific community.
I technically stopped being a reporter for The Outlook last March when I became an employee of Harvard Media and switched full-time to online media with SaskToday.ca, but my content is still emailed to Delwyn on a weekly basis and it still runs in The Outlook print newspaper. I still have that presence in Outlook's legendary print publication - that actually predates Outlook itself - and for that, I'll always be grateful.
Support your local newspapers, people. Buy a subscription. Buy an ad. Buy two. Tell your friends. Everyone's all just trying to make it in this crazy world.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
