Are the days of the community newspaper numbered?
National and local experts say no. In fact, they say small-town newspapers seem to stand stronger now.
The Dodge Citiy area boasts several newspapers. Two publishers and two local experts voiced optimistic points of view and produced data showing that our local newspapers are somewhat insulated against the problems several of the largest newspapers in the country are struggling to deal with.
“At the Globe, we continue to be strong in revenue as well as improving our local content which should help us maintain a strong future," said Daily Globe publisher Darrel Adams. "And the secret to keeping the Globe strong among our community is to include local content.”
He said the Globe's circulation has been the same as the last two years for paid circulation, with the only difference being that it fluctuates a bit each month, due to community members relocating into and out of Dodge City.
Adams said several factors make small newspapers less vulnerable to the current economic downturn and the crisis that other print pubilcations face.
“My belief is our community, whether you are a subscriber or business owner, if we are giving you something to read about our community, we should maintain a strong presence in Dodge City," he said. "In other words, the more local stories we have, the stronger a community newspaper should be, since people want to know and read first what’s going on in the community."
For Cynthia Vierthaler, publisher and editor of The Spearville News, what differentiates small newspapers from large is that small papers fill a niche in the community, and they remain a way for people to stay informed about the activities of their hometowns.
“Although it may sound a bit silly, small-town newspapers stay viable, not because of reporting up-to-the-minute breaking news, but by ignoring it,” she said.
Regarding the News' circulation, Vierthaler said that it drops by small increments each year. She attributed the change to aging readers and the mobility of the community.
“We still have some of the same families in town that were here 50 years ago, but we also have a very significant number of new families that do not feel the same attachment to Spearville that long-time residents feel," Vierthaler said. "We hear it all the time: ‘There aren’t names in the paper that I recognize anymore.’”
She said a strategy the Spearville News was using to keep running included sending the paper to out-of-state subscribers. However, she considered this a short-term solution to keep circulation stable.
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Are the days of the community newspaper numbered?
National and local experts say no. In fact, they say small-town newspapers seem to stand stronger now.
The Dodge Citiy area boasts several newspapers. Two publishers and two local experts voiced optimistic points of view and produced data showing that our local newspapers are somewhat insulated against the problems several of the largest newspapers in the country are struggling to deal with.
“At the Globe, we continue to be strong in revenue as well as improving our local content which should help us maintain a strong future," said Daily Globe publisher Darrel Adams. "And the secret to keeping the Globe strong among our community is to include local content.”
He said the Globe's circulation has been the same as the last two years for paid circulation, with the only difference being that it fluctuates a bit each month, due to community members relocating into and out of Dodge City.
Adams said several factors make small newspapers less vulnerable to the current economic downturn and the crisis that other print pubilcations face.
“My belief is our community, whether you are a subscriber or business owner, if we are giving you something to read about our community, we should maintain a strong presence in Dodge City," he said. "In other words, the more local stories we have, the stronger a community newspaper should be, since people want to know and read first what’s going on in the community."
For Cynthia Vierthaler, publisher and editor of The Spearville News, what differentiates small newspapers from large is that small papers fill a niche in the community, and they remain a way for people to stay informed about the activities of their hometowns.
“Although it may sound a bit silly, small-town newspapers stay viable, not because of reporting up-to-the-minute breaking news, but by ignoring it,” she said.
Regarding the News' circulation, Vierthaler said that it drops by small increments each year. She attributed the change to aging readers and the mobility of the community.
“We still have some of the same families in town that were here 50 years ago, but we also have a very significant number of new families that do not feel the same attachment to Spearville that long-time residents feel," Vierthaler said. "We hear it all the time: ‘There aren’t names in the paper that I recognize anymore.’”
She said a strategy the Spearville News was using to keep running included sending the paper to out-of-state subscribers. However, she considered this a short-term solution to keep circulation stable.
The academic side
Lionel Tipton, professor of journalism at Dodge City Community College, said advertising is not a determining factor in keeping strong newspapers in small towns.
“Circulation is what ultimately determines their survival; how many papers are selling, how many people buy it, how many subscribers they have are crucial factors that determine their survival in the light of the electronic news age,” he said.
Tipton said another factor that makes small-town newspapers insulated and strong is that they run more local news than national news.
“For example, the Conquistador: Students first want to get news of their campus before national news, so I would say that the community colleges and small-town newspapers are the primary source of information in our communities," he said.
Tipton said that rising printing costs have reduced the Conquistador's weekly printing by 200 issues, but that does not mean that the paper is going to disappear.
Although many students are used to reading newspapers online, he said, they are always going to keep connected with the full investigative potential that print publications offer.
“I do not believe that newspapers are going to vanish some day, because a classic reader’s habit has been to read a newspaper while having a cup of coffee at your table in any place, and you cannot drag a computer to your table to read comfortably,” he said.
Michael Ryan, professor of sociology at DCCC, said small- and medium-sized community newspapers are more demographically linked to the communities than large newspapers, since they reflect the problems and successes that local people face daily.
“Since the printing press became available, every community needs some newspaper or other type of publication, but it’s more important for small communities like Dodge City because people can track more closely what kind of decisions the local government is making, and many of those decisions form the basis of what local newspapers report daily,” Ryan said.
“If small newspapers were to vanish someday, then the only option to the community would be to get news from the government, and that cannot ever happen because people would only read selected factual information, and it already would not be a real democracy."
He said another positive thing for area newspapers is that despite the economic turmoil, businesses in southwest Kansas are doing well.
“Certainly it’s a positive thing for our local newspapers, because if there is not falling business and not falling sales, advertising is always available, and that is not the case, for now, for the big cities’ newspapers,” he said.
