Local newspapers are dying: to the detriment of education, democracy, and the Church

My first job was delivering the Grand Rapids Press {Grand Rapids, MI}.  Five days a week I delivered about 16 papers after school, on Saturday I got up early to deliver the same number, and on Sunday my father drove my brother and I to deliver our whole route together before church {our little sister delivered 6 papers on the other days, but not Sunday morning, that was for the older kids}.  My whole life I have been an avid newspaper reader, maintaining a habit I learned from my grandmother, I read all my old newspapers in order when I return from vacation {Yes, it is emotionally satisfying to do so}.  When I moved here to Franklin, PA in 2012, I discovered pleasantly that our community has an excellent local newspaper: the combined The Derrick / The News-Herald {Oil City - Franklin}.  We are fortunate.  According to this AP news story: Decline in readers, ads leads hundreds of newspapers to fold , over the past fifteen years, 1,400 cities and towns in America have had their local newspaper close up shop, circulation of newspapers in America has declined every year for three decades, and ad revenue has fallen dramatically since 2006 {Meanwhile, Facebook's ad revenue for 2018 was $55 billion}.  It should be obvious that losing our local newspaper would be detrimental to our schools and government, denying us a source of both encouraging and uplifting news and awareness of potential or growing problems.  What may not be readily apparent to everyone is the harm that would befall the Church in Venango County without The Derrick / The News-Herald.
The first significant initiative with which I became involved as the new pastor in town was the Children's Roundtable.  In the fall of 2012, those meetings led to the formation of the exploratory committee which became Mustard Seed Missions.  How did we let people know that we were holding a public meeting about helping those in need in our midst, which several of our current board members {still helping out 7 years later} attended?  We told the local religion reporter and the paper printed an article.  Since its inception, Mustard Seed Missions has received incredible coverage in the newspaper, boosting both our quantity of volunteers and our donations.
The effort to open, and now expand, a homeless shelter in Venango County, now headed up by Emmaus Haven, was also greatly helped by articles in the newspaper highlighting our efforts as a Church community.  In both of these ecumenical ministry efforts, the coverage has been both positive and accurate, a testament to the reporters and editors of our local newspaper.  Would we have been able to successfully launch either of these non-denominational para-church charities without the boost of articles from the newspaper?
In addition, we have a weekly religion page in the Saturday edition of the newspaper, featuring rotating commentary by local ministers, articles about what is happening here in the Church {such as Nicole's Fairy Enchanted Evening fundraiser}, and announcements about upcoming church events and efforts {free of charge, a gift to the community}.
It would be a massive blow to Venango County if The Derrick / The News-Herald were to close at some point in the future.  I know that some of the profit/loss issues facing print media in general are far beyond the control of a small market like this one.  But I also know that there are enough people here in Venango County, enough businesses, enough civic organizations, and yes, enough churches, to keep our excellent newspaper going through our subscriptions, purchases of ads, and cooperation with, and encouragement of, the reports, editors, and staff who publish our local newspaper.  As the AP story says, "Local journalism is dying in plain sight", but it won't here if we offer our ongoing support to one of the freedom's enshrined in our Bill of Rights, our local newspaper.

{As you probably know, my blog has no ads, it earns me no money, nor have I used it before to advocate for any business venture.  Supporting the newspaper of my community, which in the ways I described above, in turn supports the church which I serve, is an exception to my own rule; thank you.}