People show love for local newspapers after Capital Gazette attack
Following the tragic shooting at The Capital Gazette, people are showing their support for local press.
At least five people were killed, with several others "gravely injured," in the shooting on Thursday at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Police said the suspect was taken into custody, and called the incident a "targeted attack."
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The Capital Gazette has been published in Annapolis since 1884. The newspaper's team has even been covering the story of the attack on their own offices, a mark of incredible professional strength.
I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.
— Chase Cook (@chaseacook) June 28, 2018
Following the shooting, many journalists, editors, and reporters tweeted their support for local newspapers, with other members of the public tagging their own local papers in some threads.
Read this thread from a Capital Gazette editor. This is what your local newspaper does. The journalists are deeply committed, and invaluable to the communities they serve https://t.co/lj3gO7A7qn
— Charlie Mahtesian (@PoliticoCharlie) June 28, 2018
1/ Local newspapers are the lifeblood of American journalism. They address the day-to-day stories that matter to a local community. They keep that community informed in a way national outlets never could. And, yes, they've struggled mightily in recent years.
— Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) June 28, 2018
Local newspapers don’t win tons of Pulitzers or cover flashy stories. They cover the zoning board, the planning board, the town budget. They’re often overlooked. But they’re where some of the country’s finest journalists work for little pay & no glory. Please remember them today.
— Maria Cramer (@GlobeMCramer) June 28, 2018
tonight i’m thinking about how thankless it is to work at a local newspaper. the pay is shit, the hours are long, the feedback is often hateful. the payoff is making a difference in your community. the people in that newsroom were there because it was what they lived for.
— mcquizzy (@casey_mcquiston) June 29, 2018
Many offered help to those feeling helpless in light of the tragic event, and suggested subscribing to The Capital Gazette, or your local newspaper. Alternatively, others suggested donating to journalism schools and organizations.
I know many are feeling helpless about #AnnapolisShooting. What you can do to help community journalists like them: subscribe to digital edition of your local newspaper right now. Show your support for local reporters, pls #SubscribeNow
— Maeve's personal assistant (@DPMCanty) June 29, 2018
A small but meaningful response to the Capital Gazette tragedy would be to subscribe to a similar local newspaper in your area, wherever that may be.
— Matt Ford (@fordm) June 28, 2018
Finally buying a subscription to our local newspaper because it’s the least we can do. Shoutout to the @HollandSentinel and the outstanding reporters, editors, and staff.
— Erin (@erinisinire) June 29, 2018
Honor those who were killed today by subscribing to your local newspaper. Support a hyperlocal news blogger. Donate to @spj_tweets, @rcfp, @IRE_NICAR or your local journalism school. Hell, buy your favorite journo a well-deserved beer. (If they’ll even let you; ethics, you know.)
— Ashley Heher (@ashleyheher) June 29, 2018
If you want to donate directly to The Capital Gazette newsroom and its journalists, Bloomberg reporter Madi Alexander started a GoFundMe page that has raised over $27,000 at the time of writing.
For all their importance to the community, local newspapers have been under immense pressure over the last decade or so, struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly digital media landscape.
With consumers looking to online news outlets, between 2000 and 2015, print newspaper advertising revenue in the U.S. — whether with local or national outlets — fell from approximately $60 billion to about $20 billion. Plus, circulation is down across the board, with the estimated total U.S. daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2017 falling 10-11 percent from the previous year.
And resources? According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39,210 people worked as reporters, editors, photographers, or film and video editors in the U.S. newspaper industry in 2017. That's down a whopping 45 percent from 2004 — almost halved.
With revenue, staffing, and circulation on the decline, local newspapers have the odds stacked against them. Nonetheless, staff work incredibly hard every day with small teams and limited resources.
"For more than a century, most people in the Western world have taken local journalism for granted," wrote Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, in his 2015 book on the subject.
"Having a local news medium dedicated to covering you and people around you helps mark the identity of the place where you live as somewhere and helps mark people there as someone," he wrote. "Local news helps cultivate consensus, coherence, and stability within a community."
These days, many local papers distribute their content online for free. If you were thinking about paying for that content with a subscription, now is the time to do it.
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