Mitch Harper has kicked off what could be a hot topic of discussion -- corporate ownership of newspapers. I have no particular interest in defending the corporation except for the comment I left on Mitch's post and for this observation: As Harper and one of the commenters pointed out, this is still a two-newspaper town, a rarity these days. The factors working against two newspapers are tremendous, as city after city is learning, and Knight Ridder and the Inskeep family deserve some credit for so far resisting those pressures.
The value of having two newspapers goes beyond giving readers two editorial-page views of the world, although that, of course, appeals the most to me; only with more than one perspective is argument possible, and argument is necessary to get even close to truth. The newspaper staffs also have different ideas about everything from covering city hall and reviewing restaurants to chronicling sports teams and spotlighting crime news. There is a lot of news in a town this size, and having two newspapers means there is less chance of some of it being missed. Anyone who has ever lived in a one-newspaper town can testify to that.
The blogosphere is growing, even here. But such chronicles present pretty narrow slices of what there is to report on. Until there is some kind of organizing force (even self-organizing) to start fitting those slices together, there is still a value in having people who at least make a stab at a comprehensive report. The fact that we still have two groups of people attempting that (not to mention the work done by TV and radio and publications such as Fort Wayne Weekly and Ink), is worth celebrating.
A lot of criticism can be aimed at Fort Wayne's newspapers, much of which I would probably agree with. But let's give them credit for what they do get accomplished, too. Both papers, for example, send a reporter-photographer team to the Gulf Coast. They could easily have decided that spending the money that cost was an extravagance that didn't do anything for the bottom line.
Comments
The News-Sentinel's series of articles in the late 1990s on Northeast Indiana's desperate need to address its economic development and career diversity problem was a high-water mark, even though nothing was done immediately (some people wake up cranky when shaken).
I think that well-researched series, along with the Chamber of Commerce's valiant drumbeating, probably helped to get the rusty wheels turning. We're still at a creep, of course; in some cases provincial notions are dying very hard.
But I think that fine News-Sentinel series helped to finally spark a push to achieve what I hope will be more diverse and rewarding career choices around here. Bravo.