Our hometown newspaper may not be perfect, but we have it

I have heard readers complain about this journal from time to time. And I'm guilty of it myself.

People discuss misspelled article titles and content, the lack of local media coverage, and, most recently, complaints about columnist Allan Stellar being removed from the opinion page because perhaps his political leanings do not do not match those of editor-in-chief Rick Silva.

I don't buy it for a second. Editor Silva asked all columnists to write with a local perspective because this is a local newspaper. Maybe he didn't even invent the rule because this newspaper is owned by Digital First Media, his boss, whoever he is. Or maybe he missed one column or one deadline too many, to which I plead guilty.

Or maybe because in a small community like Red Bluff, we are privileged to have a newspaper that is published and printed five days a week. The survival of this newspaper depends on local subscribers who want to read it and advertisers who want to buy space. Meanwhile, my fellow journalism graduates from fancy schools are being laid off by the hundreds, if not thousands.

In January of this year, the Los Angeles Times laid off another 115 journalists from its editorial staff. I spent a week in Mexico with a former LA Times world editor when I ran our small hometown Corning Daily Observer, which no longer exists (Julie Johnson still reports, but he is digital and represents several communities). The editor of the Times did not envy my position, which was a writer, editor, photographer, complaints officer, darkroom film developer, sportswriter, and collector of classified ads from time to time during the lunch hour. I have even sometimes delivered a few newspapers missed by the carriers. For her part, she would sit at her desk, do research, assign big stories, and edit them without ever leaving the building.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal laid off 20 more journalists despite hefty contracts with AI developers and a seemingly large profit margin, according to journalists' union representatives. Journalists went on strike this week. WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said she wanted stories that were relevant and resonated with readers. I totally understand.

That’s why I love the addition of Mandy Feder-Sawyer to the writing team. She writes funny, human interest stories about the people who live next to us all, on the streets or across the street from us all. We can't find this information on social media or the click-and-bait news sites that are destroying the American newspaper market.

I am writing part of this column from the stairwell of the Philippe Chatrier court (Janik Sinner leads 4-2, and the score must be equal to an odd number so that we can take our place during the relief; my column therefore continues today instead of Thursday).

When I write using the Notes app on my phone, I get constant “NewsBreak” type interruptions. Have you ever noticed that the information on your phone is just teaser titles? In the newspaper industry, teasers are small pieces of information placed on the front page that encourage the reader to turn to the full story.

On our phones or computers, the teasers look like this: “These rival gangs in Texas are at war” or “Where do most of the millionaires live?” or “This Taylor Swift news is making fans crazy.” All of these scenarios require the reader to click for more information. Each click generates a pop-up ad, which generates dollars for influencers or news agencies, often from a foreign country or a certain political party. Click-and-bait ads are also valid for digital versions of newspapers like this one and the Sacramento Bee, but advertisers know they can do more with their money than attach ads to news agencies' digital pages. local press.

The once-popular Modesto Bee, part of the McClatchy newspaper chain and former employer of my brother and father, announced a few weeks ago that it would publish three days a week and that the Sunday paper would now publish the SATURDAY. In the blink of an eye, a newspaper that had at least half a million readers is officially on life support. And just like the Daily News, I'm not even sure they have an office anymore.

My brother wrote a story about a Modesto junkyard about 15 years ago, when The Bee offered the first set of retirement handshakes. This is how he describes himself as a garbage collector, dealing in metals and recyclable materials.

So when a newspaper the size of Red Bluff can still exist by offering its readers small pages printed five days a week and including a group of columnists without a journalism degree, that's a real achievement in the newspaper industry. today's press.

I'm not against people writing without a journalism degree, but I am sad for my colleagues with uncertain career paths who went to school because they were good writers and passionate about journalism. We should consider ourselves lucky to have a forum in this community, free of bias, where a group of people can write about local issues and let us know what they think. Citizens can still write letters to the editor, although most don't, because they can complain on Facebook pages like Red Bluff Rundown or Corning Crimewatch.

Our little diary is certainly not perfect, but at least we still have one.