What a shrinking newspaper costs a community
A gauge shows the rate of papers being printed at The State Journal-Register in Springfield on Feb. 28, 2011. It was the last local run of the SJ-R — after that, the parent company dismantled the press and moved printing operations to Peoria, one of the early cost-cutting moves in what would be a decade of reductions. Brian Mackey
Some version of the newspaper known today as The State-Journal Register has been published in Springfield and Sangamon County since 1831. It shared stories of fisticuffs in the state legislature and carried ads for elixirs and miracle cures. It reported on an ambitious local attorney and politician, named Abraham Lincoln — and in more recent years, spanned the continent to explore how immigrants from Mexico transformed Beardstown, which had been all white — that work was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
But today, The State Journal-Register is not what it once was. The Copley family, which had owned the paper for generations, sold to a private equity-backed company called GateHouse. Then the cutting began. Today on the program, we talk about what's lost when a community loses a once-fine newspaper — or at least sees it shrink to a vestige of its former self. The 21st was joined by two journalists who used to work at The State Journal-Register to talk about it.
GUESTS:
Mike Kienzler
Former Metro Editor, The State Journal-Register - Worked at the paper for 40 years
Rich Saal
Former Photo Editor, The State Journal-Register - Worked at the paper for 35 years, Photography editor from 2000-2019
Newspaper newsroom employment in the U.S. fell 57% between 2008 and 2020, from roughly 71,000 jobs to about 31,000. At the same time, the number of digital-native newsroom employees rose 144%, from 7,400 workers to about 18,000. https://t.co/OSXEqYWPol pic.twitter.com/NMVWLsf2Kb
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) July 18, 2021
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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