More towns now without reliable news

A gut punch.
That is how South Dakota NewsMedia Association (SDNA) executive director Dave Bordewyk described the bombshell news last week that News Media Corporation was immediately shuttering its operation, which meant immediate closing of newspapers across the region, including several in Wyoming and four in South Dakota—Brookings Register, Huron Plainsman, Moody County Enterprise (Flandreau) and Redfield Press.
To say this news is shocking, sad and infuriating is putting it mildly. We here at the Custer County Chronicle mourn the loss of more community newspapers, and we feel deep pain for our journalism colleagues who went into work Wednesday morning ready to do their jobs, only to be told their services were no longer needed. These are human beings. These are good people. These are people working hard in a profession that is continually under more and more fire, both financially and from those who wish it silenced. The free press continues to be an absolute necessity for a democracy, but it continues to be battered.
But, the news media will rally, and we will persevere. We have no choice. Every time a community loses its newspaper, it loses its voice. It loses its government watchdog. It loses its unofficial historian. It loses a part of its soul. Its our job to try to bring back that voice, to try to fill that hole. It’s a process the SDNA and newspapers around the state have already begun.
There will be some who will try to use this tragedy as a way to try to make a statement on the “fragility” of print media. They will say it proves newspapers are on their way out. They will say the newspapers aren’t reliable. They will say its only a matter of time before they are all gone. We say it shows the importance of community-based news. It shows what newspapers have been. It shows what newspapers should be.
The fact of the matter is, a newspaper will never—and we mean never—close in a community that does not want the newspaper to close. If a community supports a newspaper, it can never falter. There will always be local news to report, and there will always be those answering the call to report that news. But we cannot do it alone. They are called community newspapers for a reason. We simply cannot do it without you. Fortunately, the Chronicle is in a city that gets it. We are always humbled and grateful for the support we receive from our subscribers and the business community. We have to have those, or we too will go.
We’ve said it before, and we will say it again. We simply cannot do this without you. The News Media Corporation situation is proof of that. It could happen anywhere, but we can’t let it happen anywhere, anymore.
“This is a gut punch for community journalism in our state. No other way to put it. My hope is that solutions can be found quickly in the affected communities and local journalism can be restored and maintained,” Bordewyk said. “At South Dakota NewsMedia Association, we are working right now to answer questions and provide information and support as best we can.”
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