TOWNSHEND — It was too hot to do anything - not even in the basement where I work was habitable. So I decided to sit down and read the news. I do not get the opportunity to do that often enough.
I use a pair of news aggregating sites that gather articles from sources all over the world. One of those sites contains multiple sections, all of which I have designed myself by adding preferred sources, preferred topics, and even preferred keywords.
I don't need a newspaper; all the news I need to read is on my computer in carefully contrived boxes.
But there seems to be a void. Something is missing from the experience.
The paper.
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When I was in elementary school, we took a field trip to the local newspaper.
We witnessed a spacious environment called a newsroom, where reporters sat typing on some weird machines at rows of desks. We heard the clickety-clack of unstaffed steel monoliths cranking out reams of paper from AP and UPI.
The Linotype machines were amazing, but nothing beat the visual impact and noise of the presses: huge mechanical beasts composed of room-sized tubes covered with lead sleeves full of letters and words that passed through ink, depositing it on paper.
At the end of the process, there were newspapers, cut and neatly folded, then strapped into tight bundles according to what route they would serve and stacked onto trucks.
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For most of the time from when I was 12 years old until I graduated from high school, I threw papers. I was constantly covered in ink, and I felt like I was part of something important.
My customers wanted their morning paper on their doorstep by 5 a.m., so it would seem that my papers were important to their lives. In the morning, after I finished my delivery, I would sit down with a copy of the paper and a glass of orange juice, and I read the news from front to back.
The afternoon paper - yes, I delivered both a morning and an afternoon paper - was not as critical, so I often had other neighborhood children accompany me on my route. It was a social occasion to some extent, but when people got home from work, that paper had best be on their porch.
While I was in high school, a couple of young reporters by the name of Woodward and Bernstein appeared on the scene. Their work and the support given them by The Washington Post made a major impact on a generation of young people, me included.
I, like many, simply wanted to be a reporter and work for a great newspaper. It was an honorable profession that could accomplish great changes in society.
That stop was not on my path, but I have recently encountered a distant, older relative who served as a photojournalist all his life, much of it during a very tumultuous time in North Carolina. Every time he pulls a picture from his archives and sends it to me, I am in awe.
Oh, how I wish I could have been like him. What a wonderful profession this news photographer had: He was just as much a recorder of history as those who researched and wrote the articles.
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Newspapers all over the world are asking a lot of questions about their own survival, and many individuals are predicting a complete collapse of newsprint publications: It is all going to be electronic, we're told; traditional newspapers will cease to exist, because they simply cannot survive in today's world.
Today's world, indeed. By whose measure?
We live in an area with little cell-phone coverage, so put your smart phone in your pocket. High-speed Internet access is still a dream for many and, in my opinion, the laudable effort by Vermont to extend cell and broadband coverage will not repair all the holes that exist.
People will still need to get their news the old-fashioned way. Some will always prefer to get their news on newsprint.
Newspapers will remain just as valuable as the local school or the post office to our communities.
We are fortunate that we, in this area, have multiple newspapers. They all deserve our support, be it by subscribing, donations, or advertising. The money funds the operations, including Internet related content, regardless of how it is obtained.
Despite what anyone thinks, good news costs good money, and a quality publication cannot exist without professionals involved at all levels. We all scream for better coverage of our area, don't we?
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What else can we do?
In the world of journalism, it is becoming increasingly common for small, local independent media organizations, financially struggling to a large degree, to partner with larger print-media establishments and work jointly on some stories.
This arrangement is not as frightening as some might fear if one looks at truth and fact as the two principal commandments of real journalism.
Such partnerships seem to be working well. Is it possible that such could be accomplished here? I think so; others might disagree.
We have a great number of talented young people in our area. Support for the arts is high, and Brattleboro is constantly promoting itself as an “arts destination.”
What about the art of journalism? What are we doing for our young people who love writing and wish to do more than study Shakespeare in English class year after year? No one could ever convince me that quality training in journalism is not a benefit to children regardless of their ultimate paths in life.
We have the resources now, right here in our communities, to expand the reporting of local news and events and give our young people the ability to sort fact from fiction which, at the very least, will make them better citizens.
When I was with the Career Center, I pestered every director with my belief that a program in print journalism was not only worthwhile but possible. That never came to pass but, while the Career Center would be the best venue for a serious program, steps can be taken in the area high schools, in cooperation with our local papers, to allow students to gain the necessary graduation credits in English by pursuing journalistic training.
I worked with people from The Commons for many years at Townshend Elementary School. My part was purely technical in nature, but I was just as passionate about the program as the individuals who did the instruction. The final year the students did almost everything, including page layout with a publishing program as opposed to a simple word-processing document.
In order to facilitate that, I spent time with professionals so I could guide the layout process as we built the pages for the final newspaper.
Journalism, however, is not tested under No Child Left Behind, and the program fell victim to bureaucracy. But the students who participated, for the most part, worked extremely hard and the results were of high quality. Early education works, I know.
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You might like to know how a Little League team is doing. Others might like to know what is happening in the Arts scene. Me? I want the news from every town in my area.
Internet news has become a copy-and-paste journalistic endeavor where good reporting is all but plagiarized as “papers” simply rewrite the work of others.
Serious professional journalism, the kind I grew up with, is going the way of newsprint. All of us must recognize what we have, right now, and what we can have in the future.
I see a great future for “old fashioned” delivery of the news in our area, from the tireless efforts of those who pursue the story to the much-changed methods of how that news is delivered.
Like any art form, journalism must be supported in order to flourish, and I pray that it will be.