“And another one bites the Dust.” — Queen, 1980
I noticed that over the last couple of weeks the faithful walking delivery guy of “Michigan’s Best” free publication hasn’t been making his usual rounds in my neighborhood.
My mailbox has been bereft of the “throwaway” quasi-newspaper now for the last three weekends.
I was able to confirm the untimely demise of Michigan’s Best by contacting a former employee of MLive, its publisher. It’s just the latest in a long and painful line of dying printed publications.
It wasn’t that long ago that daily newspapers began to cut back from being daily to publishing three times each week. Then it was five years ago that community newspapers such as the Penasee Globe went belly up, welcoming Michigan’s Best as the successor.
I shan’t be telling a secret in suggesting that newspapers and their ilk are dying on the vine. It’s a keen grasp of the obvious to tell folks that the remaining days of their long love affair with daily newspapers are numbered.
Heck, the Penasee Globe was first published as the Wayland Globe in 1884 and provided news weekly until January 2019. Yes, that’s 135 years.
There’s a reason. There’s more than a few reasons. And don’t forget the Darwinian principle that it’s not the smartest, strongest or fastest that survive. It’s those with the ability to adapt to changing conditions.
And yes, the times, they are a-changing.
More than a dozen years ago, when I contemplated starting up a local newspaper with a very different business plan, I was keenly aware that daily and weekly newspapers would become dinosaurs, just like the milkman, like typewriters, like gas station jockeys. And I believed most sincerely that newspapers would have to use the Internet as its mode of operation to survive.
The most expensive costs newspapers have had to endure for so many years have been with ink and distribution. So, I reasoned, if I wanted to last beyond just a blip along the march of time, I would have to do it without those two huge expenses.
My business model was to use the much-despised Facebook as one of the most important sources of information, but my task would be to separate the buckwheat from the bullshit. In bygone days, news gatherers relied on police scanners, citizen callers and just paying attention to what’s been happening.
I still resolved to attend meetings and to depend on people in the know close to the situation in order to continue to provide news in a defined area.
I chose to cover just about the same area ye old Wayland Globe handled, particularly six townships — Dorr, Leighton, Martin, Wayland, Hopkins and Watson, and one city — Wayland. Add to that three school districts, Wayland Union, Hopkins and Martin, and you have the coverage area.
It’s not a foolproof plan, and sometimes municipalities meet on the same nights. But with proper scrambling and an old community journalist’s bag of tricks, most of the news can be covered like it couldn’t be in the last couple of decades.
It’s a great way for an old curmudgeon like myself to spend the twilight of his autumn. It’s a lot better than sitting in front of a TV just waiting to die. And it’s a lot less expensive than taking trips.
I really don’t know how much longer I can do this. And when I give it up, who will step forward and take up the mantle of community journalism that is sadly approaching death?
Thanks for writing this editorial, David, and for your faithful service throughout the years as you attempt to keep locals informed despite changing times and technology. Many have appreciated your efforts and your example; I know I do.
David, I was surprised this morning when I woke up and looked at my back steps and there was the Michigan’s Best. I was thinking the same thing, that it’s over, no more ads or coupons, basically a paper with no substance except best places to eat or visit.
But for now it’s still exists. Hopefully, Wilkins doesn’t get one, oh boy!
Thanks very much for your efforts in presenting local news to the audience. We disagree on many things, however not your dedication to the publication you put your heart into. Well done!