This week has been about 27 days of working through all the processes of integrating five local newspapers into a smooth-running system that can be as efficient as possible while still providing community-specific local news across Northern Nevada.
Much of what we're doing has gone really well, with glimpses of brilliance.
Some of what we're doing has been glaringly awful and really embarrassing—like forgetting to get papers dropped at the TA off the Mill City exit, despite driving past it with newspapers in the car no fewer than three times, and having to send someone back out from Fallon for their second trip of the day taking newspapers north.
The reception to this grand experiment has been really supportive and gratifying, both from the individual communities and the many readers who have stopped us to say thank you, as well as from the Nevada community as a whole. We are more grateful than you can imagine.
Ironically, the University of Nevada School of Journalism released a study last week that they have been working on for the past few years: The Project for the Revitalization of Local News.
The goals of the project are to provide news coverage in Nevada communities that have experienced a reduction in local media, organize professional meetings for news leaders to develop strategies for enhancing and sustaining local service, organize public events to raise community awareness of the decline of local journalism, and conduct academic research to assess the provision of local news in Nevada.
We were invited to participate in their community meetings and, at times, found ourselves shaking our heads at the hand-wringing while we were in the trenches working to provide local, community news. We also participated in their survey, though it’s unclear in the report whether our communities are recognized as being served.
We are a little tongue-in-cheek as we celebrate the expansion of local journalism in Nevada at the same time this academic work is released, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t take a bit of pleasure in being “an oasis in the rural Nevada news desert,” even while wishing the University wasn’t so out of touch. It would be nice if they were celebrating, too.
Alongside all of this, we’ve had to make a few hard decisions in addition to the many exciting ones. Because we had The Pershing Post already established and finally running well with strong community support, we decided to combine the masthead with the Lovelock Review Miner, in the grand tradition of newspapers over the years. However, we also need to retain the Great Basin Sun due to the postal permit, and the top of the page was becoming increasingly crowded.
What makes the most sense—though not without hesitation—is to retire The Pershing Post, which has served as an important bridge in getting us to this point of providing strong, local, community news.
Comment
Comments