On a regular basis we read and hear comment about the demise of the newspaper and how other media, in time, will supplant this most venerable institution.
It is suggested that the newspaper may go the way of the Do-do bird.
And that may in fact happen...one day.
But, for the moment at least consider these few ramblings from someone who has laboured in the field of journalism for in excess of four decades.
As I end my career, I can't help but consider what would be lost to members of the community if the community newspaper was no more.
I would like to think I was, as were countless others, a conscientious and devoted reporter/editor, and someone who worked long and hard hours each day, for the better part of a half century, to serve the region, community and people in the coverage area of the Advertiser. Then, in later years, as well, managed and guided others in community newspapers in 14 other centers across the province of Newfoundland and Labrador...and, for a time, the Optipress weeklies of Nova Scotia.
The primary goal was always to interpret and reflect the life of the people, i.e., their successes and failures, the things that made them sad, the things that made them happy.... Objectivity was the hope-for standard; and yet, as was always found, fact was the best barometer.
Defined by its own raison d'etre, the community newspaper dealt with life in detail, not generalities. While at times it may have taken a week, a month, half a year, or perhaps, even a number of years, to tell the full story of local developments, be they to do with projects or families, the fact is, the foundation and nuances of changes, whether in the community or in the lives of people, was chronicled in minute detail.
That Sadie Hefferan gave birth to a 14-pound boy, or that Uncle Bill Smith caught an three-pound mud in a local stream...each and every happening in the community was weighed with appropriate value. And, you know, for the most part, people reacted and loved the unfolding of their story...and, ostensibly, their lives.
As well, as a reporter you got to understood, early on, the meaning of the word vulnerability, and not as much in terms of yourself, but for the people. And the vulnerability wasn't without its moments/sessions of worry and gut-wrenching fatigue as the threats would often come fast and furious.
Amazingly enough, most often it was either the reader was unaware of what was transpiring behind the scenes, or, because of resultant stories, they were entertained by what was happening.
The reporter had to carry on and hope for the best...search for reliefin the belief that it was his or her duty to stand exposed/vulnerable for the reader.
To quote a well-known journalist, Michael Harris, "At times, it is a very lonely life."
And yet, it can be no other way. The exercising of duty becomes in some inexplicable way the very cause for the molding clay of truth to be given form. Inextricably the very essence of the medium provides forum for the cleansing, enlightening and purifying of dialogue within the community. The community newspaper presents itself as our best weapon when the march is towards a homogenized world in which, somehow, the individual is convinced s/he is empowered with a computer...and what unfolds in a more global medium is where it's at.
Questions beg to be asked: Where does the regrouping take place? What is the end product that we can buy into or escape from? Who actually defines what truth is? Or, does truth become nothing more than PR: perfected rationalization?
Where are society's warts and scars? Who exposes those? Somehow, I think it is important that we the members of our community do, if for no other reason than to set a watermark for the more vulnerable in society. Otherwise, there may come a day when mass media will take on a pernicious face.
And, beyond a world and existence that somehow gets rationalized away by the fluidity and dumping of endless general information, how does truth, the higher values, philosophies etc, get defined and, if not, measured? Much like the lost benefits of our long-dismantled railway, we see its demise reflected in the ruts left by the inclinations of less perceptive transporters.
The community newspaper is not a building being fed by satellite.
It gleans, for the community being served, the lessons learned and truths defined elsewhere. The community newspaper is not simply a feeder for mass media, websites etc. It exercises its discoveries that society as a whole may be better.
The community newspaper is a singular and very unique medium. It is, in best terminology, the story book about community being told each and every week. It is a reflection of the inner workings of the community - streets of people living and surviving. The true community newspaper is the embodiment of the soul of the community. True, sometimes we don't always like what we read and see; but then, that is us - we the people, warts and all.
Having given my life and time to the pages of thousands of newspapers called our community newspaper, I would like to think future success or achievement will not be measured as much in terms of the form but what the form represents.
The community newspaper represents the blood, tears, hard work, aspirations, hopes...of generations of people.
Its continuance will only result if the citizens themselves truly understand the community newspaper's place in the front-line trench of democracy. For there they will perceive individual life, while exposed and seeking survival, doggedly intent safeguarding the right to live in community and espousing the truth of its own special way of life - its uniqueness adding to the patchwork of the quilt we refer to as Canadian society. It is therefore to be said that the community newspaper is a people's most valuable asset. Safeguard it.
As I take my leave, every good wish, and may the good Lord bless each and every one of you.
- Ron Ennis
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