Why it's more important than ever to read local news (Part 4)

Since I retired from the newspaper, I’ve heard more people tell me they can’t justify the price of renewing a newspaper subscription based on what’s in the paper.?

Regurgitating press releases from local governments instead of writing stories isn’t going to win any newspaper readers (what few there are left) over to paying $5 a month on auto-recurring payments (be sure to read the fine print about how much you will be billed each year).

Why do readers have that perception? Newspapers need to do a little marketing to find out, but I’m guessing that things like changing the print format from broadsheet (ala the Wisconsin State Journal) to tabloid (like the National Enquirer), and printing fewer local news and sports pages, have a lot to do with that. ?

But nobody’s covering their communities like local newspapers. I’m not just mentioning that because the newspaper I retired from won awards for local government and schools reporting last year. Sure, papers have lost veteran leadership (what company hasn’t?), but they’re still relying on local sources for news. That’s nothing new from the 33-plus years I was managing editor.?

But they need to remember what got them readers in the first place: Faces and names. How’d the fundraiser go at the children’s museum? Which musical are they doing this spring at the high school? What’s up at the VFW? What are the Rotary and Lions clubs up to? What about the city council or school board?

Local readers used to value that content — and they still do. Grandparents want to see pictures of their grandkids — and the parents want to cut them out. And no, the parents are NOT going online and downloading a screen shot to print out for grandma.?

My grandmother used the front doors of all of the metal storage cabinets in her kitchen as clipboards for all of her grandkids’ achievements — even mine, including yellowed clippings from the paper where I used to work. She kept proudly buying magnets for all their achievements.

There’s a lot more grandparents out there — and they want to see their grandkids in the paper. The newspaper reporters and editors are working with local school districts and municipal governments to get them to submit not only news items but also photos and even videos from their local events.

During my tenure as editor, I was asked to be a presenter about working with local newspapers by local companies and even to talk with small groups of leaders from civic or hobby groups about how to work with local newspapers.?

The one thing I always tried to emphasize was that what we both do is a partnership. We are often trying to reach the same audience: Local governments, school districts, the Lions Club, the local snowmobile owners association. All of them want to let the public know what they’re doing in their communities.

The sooner those big organizations let the public know that they are important to their communities, the better for local newspapers.?

The more newspaper professionals can break down barriers to create an effective partnership, the better.

The more that local content makes it into newspapers, the more widely read it will be.?

The word will get out that the newspaper wants local news, local readers — and advertisers — will also notice.

More advertising creates a bigger news hole, which means more space for local news.?

That creates more informed local news consumers.

And that’s a good thing for every local community.

The author worked as managing editor for the Sun Prairie (WI) Star for 33-plus years until 2023, and currently works as a freelance writer for the Middleton Times-Tribune. He currently is the Chief Innovation Officer for his company, 608 Beacon Enterprises LLC; learn more online at www.608beaconenterprisesllc.com.