When people get to my age, they frequently talk about the “good old days.” In many ways, the “good old days” weren't really all that good. But there is one exception that comes to mind, and that is local news coverage.
I grew up in Springfield, and after getting out of college, I went to work for what was then called “The Springfield Leader and Press.” The amount of local news we produced dwarfs by far what is generally covered nowadays.
My recollection is that there were probably 100 reporters and editors producing the daily newspaper. We covered City Hall, the school board, City Utilities and county government. The sports section covered high school sports thoroughly. There was a society page, and weekly sections for agriculture and religion.
But here's the deal. While there was a lot of news, it was all in the Leader and Press — and so the citizens of Springfield all got their information from the same place. So, while opinions might differ, facts did not. Drilled into the heads of us reporters was the maxim attributed to Joseph Pulitzer about what a newspaper must strive for: “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!”
(By way of example, when I was in journalism school, I came very close to failing a course because of one story I wrote in which I misspelled a name. “Smith” can be spelled “Smyth.”)
Today, newspapers are going broke. With the advent of the internet, advertising has moved to Google and Facebook. Classified ads are now posted on Craigslist for free. And, while many older people like me still get their newspaper delivered on the front porch, there are fewer of us with each passing day.
People now get their news from cable news networks that deliberately favor a particular point of view, be that liberal or conservative — or whatever. In fact, those networks are incentivized to tilt their coverage and to make it sensational because that increases the advertising dollar.
We no longer arrive at our own opinions based upon the same set of facts, now that the “facts” depend on where you get your news. No wonder we are so divided.
Daily Citizen aims to fill void for community
We started the Hauxeda as a response to this dreadful condition.
In this case, yes, we do want to go back to the good old days. We want a news organization that's considered by the citizens of Springfield to be a journal of record. If you read it in the Hauxeda, you can believe that the reporting was done with the intention of being accurate and without favoritism. We are human, and we will make mistakes, but we will do our best to live up to our mission to be “a catalyst for good.”
Why do I think we can succeed when so many traditional newspapers are closing their doors? Because we are different. We are a nonprofit newspaper. We can avail ourselves of the same sources of revenue as a traditional newspaper, but here is where we are different: We do not have to earn a return for investors, and we can accept charitable contributions. At the end of the day, our primary mission is not to make money for a hedge fund, but to return value to our primary stakeholders — our readers — by earning the trust and support of the people of Springfield.
I knew when we started the Daily Citizen that if we did our job well, the people of Springfield would support us. And you are, with your subscriptions and your tax-deductible contributions — your support has exceeded our expectations so far.
Your gift today goes three times as far
Today, on this Giving Tuesday, I’d like to tell you about a special opportunity to make your dollars go even further. Your donation to the Daily Citizen will be matched by NewsMatch, a collaborative fundraising effort across our industry, and, today only, by corporate partners Mattax Neu Prater Eye Center and Merrill Lynch/Nelson Hallam Group, making your gift worth three times as much to us.
We are grateful to our partners for this extra support today! Please join them in supporting your hometown and homegrown news outlet and give through our convenient online donation page today.
Thanksgiving was just last week — so I want to say, “Thanks, Springfield,” for welcoming us into your family. My hope is that if I could come back in 50 years, we’ll still be part of that family, providing comprehensive coverage of local government, community life, and sports, and publishing a vibrant editorial page. And all of you will still be reading, and supporting, the Hauxeda.
In short, it’ll be just like the good old days.
