As the pandemic has continued and whole industries have fallen victim to the effects of the virus virtually no type of business has remained unscathed. Nationally millions of people have suddenly lost their jobs, their livelihood. Others have seen their weekly wages take a hit or they have been told that they could only work part-time if at all. It has hit all of us.

In Maine, while we are still chafing under the state of emergency, some businesses have sought to bring their customers back. Some businesses have taken the extraordinary step to reopen before being allowed to do so. By the time that the lockdowns are over, every business in the state, in the nation, will be begging for customers to come back.

At least one industry has started asking customers to come home. Maine’s newspapers have begun to tout all of the things that make local news valuable. Recently you cannot help but see the requests.
From editorials to stories to television and Youtube ads, the call for readers to, once again, pick up the paper has made its way in front of readers and viewers alike.

The message has been similar in each form. There is value in local journalism. There is a trust that the reader or viewer can have with local journalism. There is an understanding of the issues in local
journalism that cannot be found in any other place. The concerns that interest the reader in Portland are not the same concern that may interest the reader in Machias or Mattawamkeag. You need that local feel to the news.

Of course all of these ideas are right. There is a value to having a local voice in the news. There is an advantage to having a reporter live in the community they are covering. There is a need to have a connection to the story. But the newspaper needs to have a connection to the community as a whole.

I have written before about how I started writing opinion pieces for The Times Record. Several years ago I was called by the editor of the paper, John Swinconeck. At the time, I believe that he had recently taken over as editor and was looking for a way to add content to the paper and bring readership up. I was asked to write my column to add right-leaning content to help balance out the paper.

The paper for years had a reputation for a certain slant in the way that it reported on issues. That reputation and myriad other factors like the internet and the dawning of social media have caused most, in not all, papers to see their readership fall.

The Times Record was referred to, by some, as the “Times Wretched” and “Pravda of Pejepscot”

It was understood, during our discussion about my writing a column, that the paper needed to add subscribers to the paper. John realized that he could better serve the readership by diversifying the content of the paper and adding other voices to the opinion page. The editor was right.

Newspapers, by their very nature, are late to get news to the readers. With news being spread online at the speed of light there is already a deficit to overcome. If local journalism is to thrive in this internet-fueled age they must find a way to attract readers. All readers. Not just the ones who vote one way or the other, all readers.

Local journalism should be uncomfortable. It should make people they cover squirm, while at the same time providing news that is unassailable. The questions should pull no punches. Not all news or columns or opinions are going to be satisfying to all readers. That is okay. A paper should not be a comfort for all. A paper should ask serious, difficult questions and report on thoughtful, reasoned
answers.

One of the recent stories that has been written about the need for local journalism mentioned the gutting of news jobs since 2000. The number quoted was 60% of the jobs in local journalism have been lost. That will have an impact on the quantity and quality of the finished product. Each paper is being asked to produce content with fewer content providers. This will only turn around with increased
financial resources and that will happen with a broader base of readership. Local papers need to give the people in their area a reason to pay for that paper.

In the end, if the local papers of Maine want to remain alive and relevant they must extinguish the opinion that they lean one way or the other. If not, the last story they will report on will be their own obituary.

Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at j_crimmins@hotmail.com

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