Newspapers survived a succession of serious challenges in the 20th Century.
First, it was radio. The newspaper came out just once a day, but radio was immediate. A news report could be broadcast as an event occurred.
But newspapers survived that challenge.
Then it was television, which didn’t just tell about an event, but showed it.
TV didn’t put newspapers out of business either. I think the papers held off the challenge of the broadcast media because they could report stories with greater depth. And readers could browse through the paper and choose which stories to read, instead of having to sit through an entire broadcast waiting for a story that interested them.
But the latest barrage against newspapers may prove to be fatal, at least for papers in small towns like Kewanee.
That challenge is from the Internet.
Online sources have broadcast’s immediacy and the browsability (if that’s a word) and depth of print media.
Online is also cheaper for small-media outlets. They don’t need to buy printing presses and ink and pay to deliver their papers every day. And they don’t need to install expensive broadcasting equipment and comply with FCC regulations.
To run an online newspaper, all you really need (once you get started) is the ability to gather and write the news. Online has all the immediacy of broadcast and all the depth of the print media.
A perfect world, it seems. And that’s why Susan DeVilder and I chose to create the Kewanee Voice website.
We’ve learned a lot as we set this site up (with the help of a good many people in the community). And now we’re ready to go about doing the things where we have decades of experience: Gathering and writing the news.
We’ve spoken with many Kewaneeans about our project, and they’ve enthusiastically supported us. No one has told us it’s a bad idea, or questioned our ability to carry out our project. They all feel an independent, comprehensive source of information about our community is important to a city’s well-being. Even its survival. And that’s what we aim to provide.
Many people in the community have been exceedingly generous in donating to our efforts, and we thank them. In return, Susan and I – and a number of other people who are supporting us in our efforts – pledge to do our best to fill the need of people in the Kewanee area to know what’s happening in their community.
