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The importance of the newspaper

Recently there have been a number of newspaper closures; it both surprises me and makes me a little sad.

                  Recently there have been a number of newspaper closures; it both surprises me and makes me a little sad. I might just be a Millennial, so I’m supposed to enjoy my technology, but there’s something wonderful about grabbing a newspaper to read: the newsprint dying your fingers slightly and being able to physically turn the page.

                  News these days has become focused on either National or Provincial stories, which is great, but you can get that news almost anywhere… the pleasure of reading a local newspaper is in just that, reading local news. Here at The Observer, I know we don’t get to absolutely everything out there, but if someone has called us about an event or about submitting photos and stories we do our best to have a reporter make it out and run the submitted articles.

                  It’s the fun part of a local newspaper, seeing the local accomplishments of people we know, “Oh, that’s so and so’s granddaughter who won that!” It’s something that communities can be proud of and it acts as an archive for future generations.

                  In the nearly six years that I’ve been here we’ve had requests for old papers, people looking for obituaries or a story from years ago that they remember.

                  One of the most unique requests, which I absolutely loved, was someone asking for a copy of the front page from the day her husband was born. He was celebrating his 50th birthday I believe and it was a small keepsake from his hometown as they no longer live here – the big local news stories from the day he was born.

                  My affinity for newspapers likely lives in my love of history – I literally get to write Primary Sources of events for future people to look back on. If they want to know how people lived, what they did, how they celebrated, and life in general in Southeast Saskatchewan – you’d look to a local newspaper.

                  Sure, things might make the nightly news somewhere or end up online with a larger media outlet; but, local newspapers run local stories all of the time. You think of the kind of stories the larger outlets run as well and they’re few and far between of specifically local news or events, unless they’re particularly hard hitting. You won’t find the photos of your kid’s Christmas concert there, but if you see a local reporter around there’s a chance you’ll be cutting out a photo or article to put up on the fridge or into a keepsake book. (I have a bunch of articles that my parents saved of my accomplishments: volleyball tournament wins, my valedictorian speech, athlete of the month, 4-H achievements, etc…)

                  Local news is meaningful to local people, so when I’m asked if the newspaper is a dying industry I tell them it’s not – and no it’s not because I work in the industry – it’s because I see the need for local newspapers and the importance of them.