The Old Coot can’t live without the newspaper.
By
Merlin Lessler
The newspaper is under attack. It’s been going on for a long
time. First, it was radio that took a crack, then TV joined in the siege. The
newsprint industry survived. Even so, a ton of daily and weekly papers went out
of business, small town and big cities alike. The demise really began over 60
years ago, after the Kennedy assassination. It made our thirst for INSTANT news
insatiable. The baton was passed to TV. Now it’s the Internet, teamed up with smart
phones. If you’re part of the hip, with-it crowd and someone asks you what’s
going on or what the weather is going to be, you don’t reach for the paper; you
get the answer from your phone.
Prognosticators say the end is near. The newspaper is
finished. The days of in depth, investigative reporting are over. I hope not.
TV network news organizations thrive on the “30-second” report. Cable channels
concentrate on 24/7 coverage of sensational news, boring us to death as they
focus on the minutia. Magazines, loaded with ads, get a quick skim and retire
to doctors waiting rooms. Newspapers get the story behind the story better than
any form of media, but most of that is national in nature. We’re lucky; we have
newspaper coverage in our local area, but much of the country doesn’t.
How will it end? Nobody knows. But, even if you don’t read
the paper for news, or use it to clip out sale coupons for “Oreos,” or don’t care
about the critical role that newspapers play in a democracy, you still have a
stake in the battle. Life without newspapers would be devastating. What would
you wrap smelly fish in?
And, how would you get your windows to sparkle, or start a
fire? Old coots like me, thrived and prospered because of newspapers. Paper
routes put a jingle in our pockets when we were kids. Newspapers were an
essential element in our world: stuffed into the toes of our oversized,
hand-me-down shoes and as temporary umbrellas when dashing through a downpour.
Is there anything better than a snooze under a newspaper in a recliner chair or
on a park bench on a sleepy summer afternoon? There is nothing that gives
privacy like a newspaper draped over your head. How would we move without
newspapers? What would we wrap the dishes in? How would we paper-train a puppy
or line a birdcage? A paperless society would be a messy society. No more paper
hats! No more paper sail boats, papier mâché figurines or blankets for the
homeless on a cold night.
I first wrote about this ten years ago, and things have only
gotten worse. Now, we have another demise on our hands, Plastic Bags are in the
death throes. We have a bag of bags on hand in the kitchen and garage; most
people have a similar stash. The bags come in real handy when you have a mess
to clean up, need to store things, tote stuff around and a slew of other uses. No
newspapers! No plastic bags! What’s the
world coming to?
Comments? Complaints? Send to mlessler7@gmail.com
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