Hoboken Journalist: Need For ‘Small-Town Papers’ Still Urgent

HOBOKEN, NJ — It’s a “eulogy for a small-town paper.”

After the Hudson Reporter recently announced it would be consolidating six of its papers into a single, all-county publication – including the Hoboken Reporter – a journalist offered a poignant take on the need for local news coverage on Medium.com.

Caren Lissner, who worked at the Hoboken Reporter and its sister publications for 24 years, made a stirring plea to community members, asking them to stay involved.

Lissner wrote:

“I can’t stress enough that readers who still have a newspaper in their town ought to communicate suggestions... before the paper is gone or consolidated, because the editors and writers likely are making the same suggestions to upper management and not being heard. Newspaper owners may pay more attention to suggestions from the public than from the staff. Once a newspaper is gone — just like when you lose parkland to unchecked development — it’s unlikely you will bring it back. Posting your thoughts about a dead newspaper on social media, while quite accurate and smart, may not help, but sending the reporters or editors of your local paper a good-faith email asking about the paper’s future just may. They can forward it to their higher-ups."

Lissner continued:

“The 'media' is not talk show hosts on CNN or Fox; it’s your cousin who earns $11 an hour at the Plano Eagle, or the investigative team at the New York Times who kept all of our families safe from tainted food by researching this Pulitzer-winning series on problems with meat inspections. Those stories weren’t 'sexy' and won’t make the reporters wealthy, but they literally save lives.”

Read the full article.

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