Newport News-Times Policies
The News-Times is not locally owned and serves the community poorly

The following letter was rejected for publication by the News-Times publisher, Mary Jo Parker and the Editor, Leslie O'Donnell:

Oct. 30,1996
Editor
News-Times
P.O. Box 965
Newport, Oregon 97365

In recent years the N-T has changed a lot. The paper has gone to twice-a-week editions and the price has gone up. In addition, the content has changed. For example, several years ago we would see three and four pages of sports coverage. Now, there is frequently only one page of sports (sometimes only a half-page).

There are fewer in-depth stories about school events and, except for the business section, there appears to be less on-the-spot coverage of events by N-T reporters. Surely there are lots of things happening of interest to local readers that we'll never read about in The Oregonian. Perhaps it is the extra work required to put out two papers instead of one, just not enough time to do the set-up and the proof-reading twice per week.

It is clear the changes are making more money for the company that owns the paper (Disney, Inc.) . Twice-a-week ads bring in twice the income. A twice-weekly 50-cent paper is 42% more profitable than a once-per-week 35-cent paper. On the other hand, getting the same (or less) coverage in two papers costs the readers $1.00 -- almost three times what the single issue used to cost.

Lincoln County is not a big enough market to support more than one county-wide paper. For better or worse, the N-T is it.

However, more important than the money is the public need for a sense of identity. In a somewhat isolated, semi-rural area such as ours, the public discourse and collective awareness of the community depend on the local media. This need for communication is not well served when the principal media outlet is not locally owned and places the highest priority on maximizing profits and much less emphasis on serving the community.

Local Newport business advertisers, including Safeway and Fred Meyer, are the principal source of income for the paper. Most of these are locally owned or have local branches and have a significant interest in the public spirit of local residents. When they place their ads, they are paying for the rest of the paper. If the overall coverage is insufficient to maintain the public discourse and community self-awareness, there should be concern beyond the immediate cash results of the ads.

I suggest that business people who advertise in the News-Times can and should express their opinion to the paper's management and encourage the paper to increase the coverage of local events and human-interest stories - even if it means going back to a single issue per week.

Carl Reynolds

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