End of an Era

by Michele Boy | April 30, 2020

Normally my column ranges from spiritual to today’s issues facing our community - good and bad, to capturing the current mood of our town.

But on Monday I had the opportunity to witness the demise of another newspaper press.

  In 2016, The Garden City Telegram was sold to GateHouse Media  (GateHouse has newspapers in 36 states, including 125 newspapers in 520 markets). I am grateful they exist because this is how we print our paper.

  However, it is sad to see a once bustling building with news crews covering local government, school activities, local flavor and community sit near empty.

And to see the press sit silent is sad.

The building is being sold and  the five remaining employees are being moved to a smaller office.

  The demise of the workers is in some way part of the computer’s capabilities. We don’t use typesetters anymore, etc.

The actual news press  was sent to become scrap metal.

  I understand times change and we must move forward but often in that, we lose something. We lose the memories, the time and effort that went into the press and in this case, we lose the heart of a small town.

As a small town paper owner, I see the beauty of capturing a child’s accomplishment, or a local’s impact on the world.

More than capturing moments and preserving history, a newspaper does what social media cannot.

If someone posts something on social media or a website and then removes it, it is gone forever unless someone happened to grab a snapshot.

For good or for bad, the newspaper’s print can’t be taken back.

Yes a misspelling or misquoting can be uncomfortable. But the idea that something is in print, cannot be taken back.

A correction can be made but the orginal article cannot be removed.

Don’t get me wrong, social media is wonderful for getting points of view and perspectives that are often overlooked or disagreed upon. And that is important.

As I toured the Garden City Telegram’s empty halls, my heart hurt.

I wanted to share a few of those pictures as a sobering reminder of what it means to lose that voice.

Small town independent newspapers can offer local content, local support of events, and a differing view. As I have stated before a rural community vs a city has a different sense of community. We can often be labeled by large news outfits with very little understanding of who we are.