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No more.
Most young people are not reading newspapers anymore; they are on the Internet. And while e-papers are being stressed by publishers more and more and are getting a growing number of hits, they are not generating nearly the amount of advertising, so far, that newspapers do.
Then there are the inroads of all news all the time offered by cable television stations.
The New Haven Register continues to do relatively well; it is making money by stressing local coverage, compelling photographs and a strong sports section. It continues to attract a large and loyal following, but most newspapers around the state and country are steadily losing both advertising and circulation in an economy that has hit almost everyone hard.
When I was editor of the Bristol Press, a loyal and hardworking staff won a number of awards for good journalism. They were a tight group that tried to turn out exclusive local stories day after day.
They are good people and no one is rooting harder than I am that a buyer can be found so their jobs can be saved and a Bristol area presence can continue.
I feel the same way about The Herald, where I did a truly horrific job as its executive editor in less that a year there. The job called for a strong administrator and budgeter and I am lousy at both.
I resigned after realizing I was in far over my head.
But again, I left behind a talented staff of dedicated reporters and editors who did the best they could to cover New Britain and a number of area towns. They did so despite the fact that financial realities caused their number to dwindle over the years - as it true of virtually every paper in the country including such internationally-known dailies as the Washington Post and New York Times.
At the Shore Line Times - also owned by the Journal Register Company -- pages have been cut due to the sagging economy but we are trying hard to produce stories and columns and editorials that can be found nowhere else.
The ShoreView, an 18-month old weekly that is published in concert with the shoreline midweek newspapers, including this one, continues to get big reader reaction and is doing well.
We hope you will stick with us through the current economic crisis; we will continue to generate coverage that will make you think about local issues and recognize local people and businesses.
But feelings, neither right nor wrong, are always valid and right now I am filled with sadness and a sense of loss at the possible demise of two local dailies - one started in 1881 and one in 1887 - that have brought so much to so many for more than a century.
Images of the old Bristol Press pressroom still wander around my head - you used to be able to see into it through a large picture window outside the building - and I can still picture the large Herald newsroom and my spare but comfortable office where I tried to struggle with a job for which I was clearly not suited.
I hope some company or corporation realizes the value of both newspapers to both communities and buys them before they shut their doors forever.
Newspapers are changing, evolving, as they must, to meet the new realities of the electronic age.
But they can cover towns such as those found on the shoreline as television and radio and the Internet cannot - coverage that is badly needed.
I have always felt that as long as there are lunchrooms and bathrooms there will always be newspapers. I still think so. Their portability, ease in finding what you want and the fact that you can read them at your leisure makes them different from any other source of information, including e-papers.
And while news that two more dailies are in danger of closing is discouraging - and for me, intensely personal - I still believe we have something to offer readers that will always be unique.
What do you think?
Robert C. Pollack can be reached at 203-752-2717 or rpollack@ctcentral.com
