Another Wednesday passes and the driveway is bare; I once again remember that there will be no Citizen delivered. I know that the publication is online and that the decision to go paperless was one made of financial necessity but I do miss the delivery.
The problem with a local paper going exclusively online is that the email notices that are received are mixed together with school notices, government meeting notices, and requests for survey responses from recent airline flights or hotel stays. And there are advertisements from every place that I’ve ever shopped and even more from shops only viewed. There are offers to make me smarter, stronger, more desirable, better prepared for retirement, and ways to generally make me a happier person. In short, the notice to view the online version of the Citizen is just one more note in an attention seeking symphony of hawking.
When the paper was delivered, that was a real, tangible break from the noise of the internet. It was a reason to stop, sit, and read about local news and hear from neighbors as they provided their opinions in an open forum. Indeed, I took advantage of this forum many times over the last decade and a half that I’ve lived here and knowing that such thoughts would be captured with ink and paper provided some gravitas and forced thoughtful and respectful discourse, something in short supply on the web.
For those who received the paper and just dropped it in the bin, they are simply people who do not place a premium on local news and will not register for online notices.
For those who did at least glance at the news because it was delivered to them, some percentage will sign up for online notice but I fear that the number will be low and even that small amount of local information received by a cursory view if the printed version will be lost.
The end result is yet one more loss of things that made Peachtree City and Fayetteville special places as we meld into the sameness supported by electronic platforms. And I seriously doubt that local advertisers are benefiting from the move to paperless.
What will your kids show their kids as a remembrance of their winning touchdown or heroic deed or even the public thoughts recorded at the passing of a family member? With no clipping to read (maybe a discovery made long after the event is forgotten), they will be left to searching archives – assuming they know what the search hopes to find and as long as those in power allow such history to be saved.
I for one would happily pay to continue to receive a quality weekly publication as was the Citizen. I wonder if there are enough like me willing to support such an endeavor. It feels like I’m tilting at windmills but then again there are a lot of them being built these days!
Alan Felts
Peachtree City, Ga.
[The editor replies: Me, too, Alan. My only quibble with your requiem for print is this statement: “And I seriously doubt that local advertisers are benefiting from the move to paperless.” That’s the bulk of the problem, Alan — Local advertisers are indeed using their limited advertising dollars on Google Adwords, FaceBook ads and other digital means of bringing customers into their establishments. I imagine they would not do that if something else would work better for them.
That is a business decision and manifestly their right. But dollars spent on Google were dollars not spent with print ads in the local paper. I said in my online letter announcing the end of print editions: They just were no longer buying enough of what we were selling to keep the print product sustainable. High overhead is now reduced considerably by publishing online. We think we can continue to bring news and opinion on local issues to many tens of thousands of local readers. I hope you can join us in that effort.]
I miss the rotary phone also…:)
And yes, I very much appreciate Mr. Beverly’s efforts to continue providing this service to the community.
While I enjoyed having the printed Citizen lying on our kitchen table for easy access to peruse at my leisure, I am absolutely thrilled that I no longer have to endure seeing the weekly rantings and dubious logic of overly sensitive right-wing snowflakes and gadflies named Felts, Hoffman, Metz, Brown, Haddix, et al. It seems they are far less inclined to proselytize when they don’t receive the satisfaction of seeing their propaganda in print. Over two weeks now and counting!!
I also miss the print version of The Citizen. Given the practical business issues that Mr. Beverly cites as reasons for advertising decline, I am puzzled about his decisions to alienate so many potential advertisers by publishing only far right-wing columnists. It would be difficult for ethical business owners to support the screwball views of Walter Williams or the ultra-narrow Grove City College faculty, much less revisionist historians like Terry Garlock. There are so many rational conservatives like David Brooks, George Will, Ross Douthat, etc. that actually understand a topic before writing their opinions. Perhaps for the Citizen being “right” was more important than being happy.
At any rate, I’m pleased that we still have the local news angle presented online, and I thank Mr. Beverly for that.
I can use the online paper but I find this difficult to navigate. I cannot find the areas that I usually enjoyed ( specifically the crossword and the political cartoons). There’s just something special about holding the newsprint in my hands! I will adjust; I won’t promise I’ll like it!
Like Alan, I miss the paper delivery also and would be willing to pay for a printed subscription. I don’t remember seeing any notice stating that in order to keep the printed version, everyone would need to pay X$$ for their subscription. Hopefully, if surveyed, there would be enough citizens who would be willing to choose this option and we could have the version we prefer whether printed or online.