September Column Winner

Thank you, Google

By David Stringer, The Lawton Constitution

Local news is local knowledge. It’s a shared understanding. It’s a chronicle of the places we live and the people and politics that define them. We know that local news is essential to our communities – and that nationwide, the job of gathering and monetizing news is increasingly difficult.”

You may have seen this published in the paper in mid-August. I wish I’d written it. But, no, it was a part of a full page ad purchased by Google. I couldn’t have said it better.

News organizations like ours face new challenges on a regular basis, much of it borne by a groundswell of technological in-novation. We know we’re not alone. Many industries have sailed to the edge of their formerly flat world, wondering what kind of monsters they’ll find at the edge of their old realities. Newspapers are a “legacy” media, scrambling to adapt to the 21st Century with a business model that served us well for about a hundred years. Now, it doesn’t.

Citizens increasingly seek out their news on digital platforms. But digital advertising pales to the type that fueled our print operations for decades. Most news-papers have reduced distribution areas, cut pages, pulled back on publication days, and increased rates (probably most of the above), in an effort to rebalance the scales. Some, like one Texas paper we provided printing services for until last month, simply close their doors and walk away.

About weekly someone will comment on the post of a story we’ve made to social media, flaming us because they can’t read the entire story. In the early days of the internet, newspaper moguls made the wrong-headed decision to put all their stories on the web for free. By the time they realized digital pennies wouldn’t replace print dollars, the expectation had been set, and many of us have been trying to cram that genie back in the bottle ever since.

The people who want it for free fail to realize there’s not a giant pot of money with which to pay writers, editors, buy paper, and drive thousands and thousands of miles to drop that paper at the house. Or even upload it to the web.

So, yes, I was heartened and gratified that Google, of all organizations, decided to use The Lawton Constitution to share a message of national merit. You may remember, they also offered a grant a year or more ago, which we decided to use to help people pay for their newspaper delivery. It was a small step, but an appreciated one.

Most of the people I know in the business are passionate, dedicated individuals, who find a way, each and every day, to attempt to do an impossible job – find, cover and write about all the topics that are important to over 100,000 people. Several of those work on Southwest 3rd Street in Lawton. I was gifted a book a year ago, profiling members of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. I’m honored to say I know a few, have met many, and revere most. But one owner confided to me recently that he hadn’t taken a pay-check from his newspaper in two months. At the end of the day, the efforts of today’s professionals are no less heroic than any hall of fame member.

So when one of the biggest, most dominant players on the planet chose to make the statement I opened with, and to use this newspaper as part of spreading the word, I stepped back, took a breath, and smiled. When the 800-pound gorilla puts his arm around you and says you’re important – and pays for the privilege – it’s a good day.