John— thanks for posting this important story. I too value local journalism and I’m proud of the work that our local team does. The Everett Herald is the daily extension of our South Whidbey Record, and it deserves to have a healthy team of journalists. Personally, I do not buy what Mr. Carpenter wrote back to you in response.
Thanks Kate, I appreciate all you do to keep local news flowing. I don’t buy it either. What does more words with fewer journalists mean? AI? Quantity over quality? And why is a red state company buying blue state papers in an election year?
This is so important! I almost shared one of Ruth's columns about being a local newspaper editor this week on Rural Reflections-the Reboot, and ultimately went a different direction instead. The good news is I know what I'm posting next week now!
The fact that family-owned Hagadone papers seem to be digging in and committing in whatever way possible to local news is an interesting one to me. They publish my local daily, and this is the second year we've received a comprehensive and extremely useful "living with wildfire" booklet in a summer editing. We need local news!
Thank you, John! I had no idea and am deeply saddened by this news. But maybe a tiny bit hopeful? Does the new company really care about our local coverage?
And I noticed that what Mr. Carpenter wrote to you is the exact same thing he has quoted as saying in the Everett Herald article. Doesn’t sound like he gave a lot of thought in his answer to you.
Thank you for sharing your writing on this topic John. I agree that local newspapers must be saved because of the important part they play in communities. I remember as a child, the buzz of getting in the paper! Small towns and communities are the best! Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if everyone lived in small towns, and big cities weren’t in existence? Just this week, some articles were titled, ‘Stratford to get new zebra crossing’, ‘The lion king roars in South Taranaki’, and ‘Fine spell to see out the week’. If only all papers were like that.
Best of luck. Fight this. The local and state papers in my home state were gutted by carrion feeders like this and the loss is still an open wound.
Thanks Thomas. l used to live in NJ. It seems to be a worldwide problem.
John— thanks for posting this important story. I too value local journalism and I’m proud of the work that our local team does. The Everett Herald is the daily extension of our South Whidbey Record, and it deserves to have a healthy team of journalists. Personally, I do not buy what Mr. Carpenter wrote back to you in response.
Thanks Kate, I appreciate all you do to keep local news flowing. I don’t buy it either. What does more words with fewer journalists mean? AI? Quantity over quality? And why is a red state company buying blue state papers in an election year?
This is so important! I almost shared one of Ruth's columns about being a local newspaper editor this week on Rural Reflections-the Reboot, and ultimately went a different direction instead. The good news is I know what I'm posting next week now!
Yes, this is so important. Thank you.
The fact that family-owned Hagadone papers seem to be digging in and committing in whatever way possible to local news is an interesting one to me. They publish my local daily, and this is the second year we've received a comprehensive and extremely useful "living with wildfire" booklet in a summer editing. We need local news!
It's great (and rare) to hear a good news story about local news. It is so essential.
Thank you, John! I had no idea and am deeply saddened by this news. But maybe a tiny bit hopeful? Does the new company really care about our local coverage?
https://fvcurrent.com/p/carpenter-media-strategy
Alas there's no indication that they care, and plenty of evidence to the contrary.
“More words” are not more meaningful words. What a shame. Thank you for writing about this important issue.
And I noticed that what Mr. Carpenter wrote to you is the exact same thing he has quoted as saying in the Everett Herald article. Doesn’t sound like he gave a lot of thought in his answer to you.
Right. Another letter writer got the same copy-and-paste answer also.
Thank you for sharing your writing on this topic John. I agree that local newspapers must be saved because of the important part they play in communities. I remember as a child, the buzz of getting in the paper! Small towns and communities are the best! Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if everyone lived in small towns, and big cities weren’t in existence? Just this week, some articles were titled, ‘Stratford to get new zebra crossing’, ‘The lion king roars in South Taranaki’, and ‘Fine spell to see out the week’. If only all papers were like that.
Yes to all of this Kate!