Our newspapers have been in decline for decades. Years ago, free services like Craigslist decimated newspapers' classified advertising, sometimes 70 percent of ad revenue. Today, Facebook and Twitter outpace newspapers as sources: Pew Research says 62% of adults in the United States get news from social media.
While The New York Times and the Washington Post are doing very well, local papers are really struggling.
The Barnstable Patriot and Cape Cod Times were bought by Gatehouse in Texas in 2015. In November 2019, New Media Investment Group acquired Gannett for $1.2 billion and combined it with its affiliate GateHouse, creating a massive media holding company. The hope is that size and shared resources will make the papers more digital, more viable. Let's hope so. We all need them.
The Patch is a network of 1,200 “hyper-local” news sites owned by investor Charles Hale. The Patch usually assigns a single journalist to cover multiple towns. Those reporters then generate five to 10 stories a day. This means fast, top-line, bite-sized.
The terrible irony of this moment: we've realized news is "essential." COVID-19 has forced us to decide what is essential and what is not. Millions of us have a new appreciation for local journalism. When we turn on TV news, we often see CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC reports that shine a light on local journalism: especially now, big stories can start small in American cities and towns.
So here we are, with laptops, phones, GoDaddy Website Builder for dummies, and spell check. If you want to volunteer with BarnstableNOW, just contact us and describe what you'd like to do.
Amy Hunt, Editor
Without robust local press, your town government is accountable to no one