Greg Jayne’s editorial, “Lucky to have local news outlet,” (The Columbian, March 6) inspired me to finally write this letter. I, too, watched the “60 Minutes” report that described how local newspapers are being swallowed up by hedge funds and then gutting their newsrooms and news-gathering resources. I find that alarming. As one who reads the whole paper every day, I would hate to have our local newspaper taken over by an agency that didn’t care about our community.
Without a local newspaper, we would not be able to have any knowledge of what our city and county councils, or our school boards are doing. We wouldn’t be able to find out what candidates for city and county elections stand for. We wouldn’t have editorials that focus on community issues. These things are crucial for making informed decisions in elections and supporting our democracy.
And without a local paper, we wouldn’t be able to learn about the achievements of our high school scholars and athletes, or about what’s happening in our neighborhoods. We wouldn’t be entertained by Monika Spykerman’s cooking adventures or by Rachel Pinsky’s local restaurant reviews. I could go on and on, but the point is that without a locally owned and operated newspaper, we’d be the worse for it.
