The Canary in

the Coal Mine

Dear Reader,

The expression “the canary in

the coal mine” refers to a practice

miners used to test for poisonous

gas in a coal mine—they would

send a canary down in a cage, and

if the bird came back dead, that

told them to watch out, there are

dangerous conditions in the mine.

The phrase has come to mean more

generally that a recent development should be viewed

as an early warning of adverse conditions and danger.

In our modern time, newspapers are to a community

like the canary was to the miner. Between 2004 and 2018,

approximately 1,800 newspapers sold their presses and

shut their doors. Now, over 200 counties in the United

States do not have any newspaper to report on local

news and happenings. Many more counties have only

one newspaper.

When a community newspaper stops reporting the local news such as City and School Board meetings, high

school sports and other events, it is a harbinger of a decline in the health of the community’s civic life. You can

bet that if the newspaper has closed down, other important markers of a rich and vibrant community experience are suffering.

A common process: smaller papers sell themselves to

the big publicly-traded corporate chains, which in turn

sell themselves to hedge funds that turn the screws on

the publications to milk them dry. Sometimes a newspaper chain goes bankrupt, shedding its debt in a courtordered restructuring and damaging or destroying the

vendors—usually smaller companies—that supply it

with goods and services. Money many times seems to

trump ethics and morality.

When a newspaper stops covering local news, who

will replace that hole—Google, Facebook/Instagram,

Amazon? Not. As a general rule, tech giants are not in

the habit of hiring reporters to gather the news, and

often they don’t even bother making sure that the stories they spread on their platforms are accurate or true.

They hire clever lawyers to reduce and even eliminate

their federal tax burden, and all the while they are spying on you, tracking every single click on your desktop

and swipe on your phone.

Here is one place where we need the government to

step in. These corporations are monopolies that know

no bounds. Only the government is powerful enough to

restrain their predatory behavior, and give the companies that actually collect the news a fighting chance.

Here’s how you can help.

• Ask your Senators and congressional representative

what they are doing to regulate these behemoths.

• Support local businesses that put the monies they

earn back into the community.

• Read and support your local newspaper with your

subscription to their print or online offerings.

We have to stand up now for local news coverage before the local newspaper and website is destroyed by

greedy outside predators. If not now, then all that will

be left of local coverage is a few disgruntled blogs… and

silence.

Patrick Wood

Publisher