A Dying Breed

I remember the days when newspapers were delivered to my house every week. Or I at least have seen that picture enough time in movies with the cute, little paper boy throwing the rolled up paper onto the cute, little front lawn of a suburban household. But is that reality? Not today. First of all, people would find some reason to lash out on the process...like it's bad for the environment. Is this where newspapers are at? I can't tell you the last time I read a newspaper. Frankly, I think holding them is awkward and somewhat difficult with its flappy pages.

But hey, let's look at my local newspaper which I honestly hope stays in good standing on the market. The Kentucky Standard (according to wikipedia, which while isn't exactly reliable I think does the trick for this blog) was started December 15, 1900 by Jack Wilson and sold to the circuit county clerk Wallace Brown in 1901. They publish three times a week (something I should have known but didn't) and have a local TV station called PLG 13, 3 websites, and a classified magazine about real estate. I grew up with PLG 13 broadcasting student events and updates (I was on it one time btw).

I have toured the building where they do the newspaper and film PLG13 and it seems like they know what they are doing. It is sponsored by tons of local businesses. Bardstown, Kentucky is extremely small town and is prided on its "Shop local" motto so everything is locally advertised. My parents still buy the paper and I know a lot of other people do too. The Standard and PLG13 have a good presence at local events so they don't exactly fade into the background.

I personally really like my local newspaper. It's nice to see local news and I grew up being on half of the pages with my Christmas list for elementary school, but the problem is, half of it I don't care about and the other half I heard about on Twitter or Facebook a couple days before. I don't see the necessity in newspapers, especially when I was doing this blog off of them and I was looking at the digital edition. I just took the "paper" out of newspapers. It's sad and I hate to admit it.

And yeah, I totally believe that newspapers are adapting. That's today's day and age. But going against popular opinion, I believe people are overlooking the fact that by adapting to digital versions the classic newspaper isn't the same thing it used to be. Is it still a newspaper? Evolutionists say we used to be apes but now we are humans, so if we put newspapers into this idea: if newspapers are the antique version what do they become? Toughie. So now I'm sad because while newspapers are still kicking in my opinion, I don't think they will ever be the same.