Local newspapers and community

 A few years ago, I was working out at the J. Smith Young YMCA when I happened to strike up a conversation with a fellow I didn’t know.

But he knew me.

We talked with each other for about a half hour or so when I casually mentioned to him that I had retired from The Dispatch after 30 years. As I got up to leave, I told him my name was Bruce.

“Bruce?” he repeated. “The one who wrote sports for The Dispatch? Awww, man, I know you. You were good.”

That was flattering enough.

But then he added this: “The things you wrote about me, well, I think they helped me to get a scholarship, because I messed up some things. But your stories really helped me, I think. And it’s not just me, but some of the other guys, too.”

This moment came rushing back to me when I was tasked with writing an introductory column for the digital newspaper Davidson Local and the importance of small, local newspapers in the community.

My brief encounter with the former high school athlete was an enlightening experience for me. It let me know, upon reflection and in its own way, how a local newspaper can hold a deep and lasting impact for many of its readers. Sure, meaningful articles can end up becoming scrapbook keepsakes. Or maybe even serve as birdcage liners.

But the immediate object of any news collecting organization is the gathering and dissemination of information for publication (or broadcast), so the readers can weigh options and make clear, coherent decisions.

Newspapers are disappearing at a prodigious rate. According to the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, this country has been losing roughly 100 newspapers per year. Since 2004, 1,800 newspapers have shut down across the United States.

Many of those papers, large and small, have been consumed by media conglomerates or monopolies, seemingly more intent for the gilding of their collective bottom line (or tax write-off) than for journalistic excellence. Newsrooms are being pared down like apple shavings in order to cut costs, leaving hardly anything other than a measly gnawed core.

This has particularly distressing implications for compact communities like Lexington, Thomasville and Denton. With reporters on the beat struggling with limited resources, who’s covering city council meetings and providing follow- ups? School board meetings? County commissioners? Who’s listening to candidates for elective office and the platforms they’re espousing? Where are the watchdogs providing First Amendment accountability?

Local newspapers, when fully staffed, generally excel at this. They can provide the nuance and detail that a 30-second sound bite from a television station cannot. By the very virtue of proximity, local writers know their subjects better than larger papers from bigger cities an hour away.

So here we are with a new online enterprise, Davidson Local, created by two women of the printed word, Antionette Kerr and Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart. They once served on the staff of The Dispatch years ago and became apostles of the late publisher, Joe Sink. Their dedication to provide the local news you need is sincere and focused.

They’re assembling a stable of writers – some at entry level – with the idea of tackling local news that isn’t necessarily being covered by other sources. They’re making that news accessible to the public with a free subscription.

You can read it here. Give this a look. Give it a chance. Maybe there will come a time when we can say, “Hey, your stories really helped us. And not just me, but the rest of us, too.”