Don't write paper's obituary just yet (06/21/08)

Dear Leonard Pitts,

You write an excellent column, and often we find ourselves agreeing with you.

But, while there are some undeniable truths in your piece about the state of American newspapers that we ran Thursday, it's a mistake to over-generalize.

There are, for instance, enormous differences between major metropolitan newspapers like The Miami Herald and community newspapers like The Commercial Review. For that matter, there are huge differences between community newspapers like The CR and papers in mid-sized cities just down the road.

There are differences in terms of profitability; community newspapers have historically not been the cash cows their big city brethren have been.

And, more importantly, there are differences in our relationship with our readers. It's much more intense.

To most of our subscribers, The CR is their newspaper. They own it, no matter what the masthead may say.

There are also enormous differences between newspapers which are interchangeable parts of publicly-traded corporations and newspapers which are locally owned.

If you doubt that, just talk to readers in towns whose newspapers have been swallowed up by chain operations.

All newspapers share concerns about changes in the public's reading habit. Anyone who cares about democracy should share those concerns as well.

But the current turmoil in the industry has its roots in much more than younger readers turning to the Internet as a source for news.

At its core you'll find unrealistic profit expectations that led companies acquiring newspapers to over-pay for properties. Those expectations - dating back 30 years or so - simply don't work today.

We'd argue that they never made sense in a newspaper market like The CR's.

Is the newspaper industry facing challenges today? Of course it is. So are lots of other businesses.

But at our small town level of the industry, those challenges have much more to do with $4 a gallon gasoline and the health of the local retail market than with the Internet.

Our readers may be a little older and a little less affluent than those of The Miami Herald, but they also tend to be incredibly loyal and devoted to their newspaper. Not every household has a computer, and large expanses of the rural landscape have access only to dial-up Internet connections. The paper is their link to the community, and the stronger that link the stronger the community itself.

Will the Internet play a role in this newspaper's future? Sure.

But our guess is that the printed product, the one delivered to your home, the one that literally puts the community "on the same page" when public policy is debated, the one that's affordable and accessible no matter what the reader's income level, the one that's portable and clippable, the one that delivers a tremendously valuable audience of consumers to advertisers who want to reach this market will be around for a long time to come. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]