Newspapers face struggle to remain viable, relevant

Since Guttenberg invented the printing press, newspapers have been at the heart of disseminating information around the world.

But in this age of fragmented media -- including radio, television, the internet and social media — newspapers, particularly community newspapers, may be at a crossroads. Newspapers are facing a continuing struggle to remain viable and relevant...

“I think it’s really scary,” said John Schleuss, the president of Newsguild.“I think we’re looking at a potentially extinction level event.”

“Already, since the beginning of the pandemic,” Schleuss explained, “we’ve lost about 11,000 journalists permanently across the United States, and that is really scary.” ...

“Before the pandemic, advertising revenue was dropping precipitously,” said Schleuss. "For those who don’t know, advertising revenue is the backbone of community newspapers like the Shreveport Times.”...

“In a smaller community or even a city the size of Shreveport/Bossier, you need enough journalists to cover what’s happening in the city government, what’s happening at the parish level, what’s happening at the state level, especially what’s happening down in Baton Rouge," Schleuss said...

“The founding fathers, when they looked at how to create a country, freedom of the press was right up there at the top. They wanted to make sure people knew what the issues were before they voted," he added.

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