Keep The Presses Rolling

Keeping the Presses Rolling

Early one morning I raced out to pick up the newspapers on the driveway and the first article to greet me in The New York Times was: “Dying Gasp of One Local Newspaper”, in this case the 121-year-old weekly Warroad Pioneer, “a pillar of its small Minnesota town.”

The article went on to report that over the last 15 years, some 2,000 American newspapers have ceased publication.

Rather than fall victim to despair, I read on and learned that the Warroad Pioneer

went out in style. Their FINAL EDITION was handsome, the typeface bold. The publisher and staff celebrated one last Bloody Mary Monday.

The Rye Record was founded in 1996, and while it’s hard to predict the future of this or any other local newspaper, I am sanguine as we edge closer to our 25^th anniversary.

Advertising may never return to its pre-2008 heights and we’re likely to receive more editorial criticism than commendation on social media, but who’s counting. What we can count on is a core group of about 25 contributors — all of whom know the difference between “its” and “it’s”, no longer begin sentences with “hopefully”, and are okay being paid less than the minimum wage.

Every year we make it through fewer crises than the FBI and, for the past several years, we’ve been a more united team than the Democratic Party.

When we gathered for our annual Christmas (okay, holiday) party on a recent Sunday afternoon, there was so much joy and engagement in my drafty living room (Bah, New York Times, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, and the lot of you) that I forgot about deadlines, bottom lines.

We’re going out on a high note this year and looking forward to 2020, notably because Mitch Silver, our topnotch sportswriter, is recovering from a stressful health issue and will be back. When I learned that longtime contributors Kathleen Durkee and Caroline Walker were moving back, I felt like the Bennet family in “Pride and Prejudice” upon hearing that the Bingleys were returning to Netherfield!

This year we launched a brand-new website, thanks to the fine work of Nick Jovanovich. With regular podcasts by Noah Gittell, Kim Berns, and Rocky Shepard, there is always something hip, humorous, or hockey-some to enjoy.

It is a joy to work with Tom McDermott, Carla Eggers, and our cast of contributors — and nonprofit partners —, and, with their help, the community can look forward to many more “really good shows” in the decade to come.