Recently, during the lunch break of an all-day meeting in Duluth, conversation turned to the decline in the timber industry. A man I had just met said he feels it is related to the increase in technology reducing the amount of paper we all use. Another person I was sitting with noted how many paper mills had closed and asserted it is because newspapers are now being read primarily online.
That led to discussion of the fate of newspapers and I listened with interest as the men—who did not know that I work at a newspaper—talked about the daily newspaper in the town they lived in. One noted sadly that the once flourishing community paper was only a shadow of what it once was. The most recent owner, a newspaper conglomerate, had let go most of the longtime staff. His colleague complained that the content was now almost entirely from Associated Press, with very little coverage of local meetings or events.
That is when I was compelled to share where I worked—with a bit of pride, I must say. It was nice to be able to tell these fellows that there are still some community newspapers in the country. And one of them is right here in Minnesota.
I was happy to be able to tell them that our little North Shore paper is filled with almost entirely local content every week. In fact, I was able to tell them the problem at the Cook County News-Herald is that we have too much local news to print. I explained to them that nearly every week we have to struggle with what news has to run immediately and what can wait a week—or two or three.
Should we run the Girl Scout beach cleanup or the preview of a book by a local author? Should we publish one of the dozens of college news items about our wonderful high school graduates or the results of the softball tournament? Should we run that fabulous photo of the lake or the lighthouse or the loon submitted by a talented local photographer on the front page, as a weather picture or on our outdoors page? When we have more upcoming events than space, how do we decide which event gets priority—the art exhibit, the bike race, the walk-run or the class at Higher Ed, the folk school or the Art Colony? If we can only squeeze in one more government meeting story, should it be from the county, the city, the townships or the economic development authority?
All in all, I admitted, it’s a good problem to have. Our little locally owned and operated newspaper offers something you can’t find anywhere else. Good news and bad, what is printed in the newspaper is all about our community—it’s about us.
It’s why the Cook County News-Herald has had an extremely loyal readership for more than 120 years.
My lunch mates were jealous. They said it was sad that their “local” paper provided the same content available in any major newspaper across the nation, but not the scores from high school football and volleyball games or what the mayor and city council argued over at the last meeting. One man said, “How wonderful that a community still has that rich newspaper tradition.”
I couldn’t agree more.
A newspaper is lumber made
malleable. It is ink made
into words and pictures. It is
conceived, born, grows up and
dies of old age in a day.
Jim Bishop
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