National Newspaper Week

The news business isn’t dying but it is evolving. And that has some effects on your local newspaper.

We recognize our reality and want to share it with our readers for National Newspaper Week, Oct. 6-12, in hopes of informing all our challenges.

In 2024, our staff is about half of what it was a decade ago. That is because a lot of advertising has moved online. We also offer digital advertising services, but we compete in that space against two behemoths — Google and Facebook, who are very close, control the gateway to your digital devices, and don’t give a hoot about local news outlets or coverage of events in your town.

Our subscriber base is smaller as well, though we have good penetration in a town of 5,500. And the number of eyeballs who view our content on multiple platforms has never been greater.

We have a website and an online replica of the print paper. And we promote our work on social media as well.

But revenue-wise, print is still our bread and butter. We publish special sections and support small businesses through promotions.

We’re also present in this community. We attend every city council, school board or county meetings.

Facebook and Google have gotten wealthy, in part, by using our content for free and selling advertising around it. Then these two companies also track your every digital move and capitalize off it, all while failing to accept responsibility for lies and misinformation that proliferate on their platforms.

But to be sure, all our industry issues are not caused by online entities. Our industry has suffered from hedge fund ownership, which has stripped assets and lessened the journalism pursuits to make a buck.

In Rockdale, we are adapting and looking for new revenue streams. We would love to have a reporter who could write knowledgeably about local government, business and more. But revenue is not there.

Our challenges are myriad, but we’re stubborn folk, and there are exciting things ahead for our industry. It’s not the newspaper itself, but the information it contains that will remain a commodity. And no matter how it is delivered, know that we’ll be there to inform. — K.E.C.