I thought we’d always have newspapers. Maybe not printed on paper — we’re well into the online age now and browsing on a phone or tablet finally feels comfortable, even to old guys like me. But newspapers, as an institution in just about every community? I thought they were a permanent fixture in American life.
They go back, after all, to the very beginnings of our country. Newspapers kept the people in our young nation informed about their towns, their country, their world. So it was when I grew up in a household that got at least two papers a day. And so it was when I began my 50-year adventure in journalism. I got to report, photograph, edit, manage staff, direct news coverage, and write editorials and columns — I’ve done just about anything that happens in a newsroom.
I realized newspapers were facing big challenges, though, starting in the early 2000s when online sites like Craigslist killed newspaper classified advertising. Right behind that came the companies that brought us Facebook, Google, and similar digital juggernauts. They figured out how to tailor advertising distribution right down to the household or individual. Advertisers loved it. They flocked there, and away from their longtime print publishing partners.
Here’s the amazing thing: Most of the newspaper industry didn’t see it coming until it was too late. Corporate leaders and publishers were so obsessed with maintaining the status quo that they missed the machine that would vacuum up their primary source of operating revenue (which they desperately needed, because a lot of those news companies continued on buying sprees well into this century, paying spectacular sums to add daily papers to their assets). As revenues declined sharply and steadily, the publishers still had mountains of debt and creditors who demanded to be paid before newspaper employees got their paychecks. That’s why most surviving newspapers have such tiny staffs and struggle to achieve even the most basic coverage of their communities.
Northwestern University’s State of Local News Project has been tracking the decline of the industry. Since 2005, the project reports, more than a third of the country’s print newspapers have died. We’ve lost more than 130 this year alone. The trend isn’t slowing. Most of those papers also had an online presence, and when they shut down, there was no place to turn for local news. Those towns became what Northwestern calls “news deserts.”
Fayetteville got much too close to becoming a news desert, which is why CityView expanded to online daily news coverage.
A similar story is happening in communities across the country. News is coming back to life in new forms. We might dislike the “mainstream media,” but when we use that term, we’re usually referring to national media — TV and cable networks, and national newspapers. But closer to home, we crave news. We still want to know what’s going on in our own communities. We want to understand why our tax rate just went up. We want to know how our health care system compares with those in other places. We need to know how safe it is to venture out at night and where to find the best new restaurants.
A new generation of news services is developing to meet that need. Some are able to work well on a small scale with a traditional business model, drawing operating revenue from advertising, event sponsorship, and other ventures. Others are creating a nonprofit model, funding their reporting through grants, memberships, and fund drives. CityView combines both of those approaches.
Earlier this year, CityView became part of a growing network of North Carolina news operations led by The Assembly, a statewide news venture. They bring more resources, experience, and connections with news professionals across the state. We also created a separate nonprofit, the CityView News Fund, to build community support and resources that fund local government reporters. Our nonprofit, with a separate board of directors, saw significant success this year, funding three news reporters and ensuring that local governments are covered.
But we’re only as good as you want us to be — we need your support to continue growing and improving our daily news report.
We’re kicking off 2025 with a January fundraising effort and we hope all our readers will chip in and fuel our growth. You can donate by going to the CityView News Fund website (cityviewnewsfund.org). Or you can send a check to CityView News Fund, 2919 Breezewood Ave., Ste. 300, Fayetteville NC 28303.
Let’s work together to make sure news stays alive and accessible to all.
Happy New Year!
Read CityView magazine’s “New Year New You” January 2025 e-edition here.
