One reads that APG has purchased another Wisconsin newspaper, the Beloit Daily News.
A few reminders:
1. Advertising revenue won’t sustain most locals newspapers, in print or online.
2. Only desperate advertisers will pay for ads in local newspapers running mostly press releases. There aren’t enough of desperate advertisers.
3. Subscriptions (for newspapers or online content behind a paywall) are an option only for sought-after content.
4. Press releases are seldom sought-after content. There aren’t enough readers who’ll pay to read press releases.
5. Local chains lost their way with editors and editorial positions that reflexively embraced local officials, business insiders, and happy-talk news.
6. Some of these chains, including APG, are making few changes in editors or editorial positions.
7. Keeping the same editors and editorial positions will leave these local papers effectually unchanged.
8. Effectually unchanged means eventually doomed.
Residents should craft their own publications, of their own views, from their own means, under their own control, publishing independently of others’ political or economic influence.
Nothing else will endure.