Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for the Washington Post, has chronicled the depressing decline of local journalism in “Ghosting the News,” her 2020 book on the loss of newspapers in the U.S. and the threat their absence poses to a democracy. More than 1,800 print newspapers folded between 2004 and 2015 in the U.S., according to a 2018 study published in the Newspaper Research Journal. And the situation has only gotten worse, Sullivan writes. These days there are hundreds of counties in America with no newspaper or meaningful news outlet at all, creating “news deserts,” as they’ve come to be known. Many papers that do remain are “ghost newspapers,” she says, “phantoms of the publications they once were and not much good to the communities they serve.” What keeps the good papers alive, she concludes, is a sustainable business model and a newsroom staffed with committed reporters and editors.
Harvard has been an uncommon exception to the trends Sullivan documents. For nearly 15 years, the town has sustained an independent, award-winning local paper through the generosity of donors, advertisers, and subscribers. A news garden, you might say—the opposite of a desert—cultivated by a community that prefers its news homegrown. And as 2019 Citizen of Note, the Harvard Press is newly challenged to take seriously its responsibilities as a pillar of town life.
But just as a garden needs gardeners, a paper needs reporters and editors. It’s their work that week after week fills these pages with the information—thorough, accurate, and fair—that Harvard’s citizens need to remain knowledgeably self-governing, and with stories that foster community and help the town make sense of itself.
As we’ve thought about how to cover Harvard news for the remaining weeks of 2020, we’ve realized that to maintain and grow our news garden, we need help. Perhaps you’ve thought from time to time about joining the Harvard Press team as a reporter, columnist, or editor. Now’s your chance.
The Press will hold an open, Zoom-facilitated informational meeting next Thursday evening, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m., and we invite you to join us. We’ll tell you about our mission and what we do. You’ll learn about the openings we hope to fill, the “beats” we hope to add, and the support we provide to new contributors. A Harvard Press reporter and a copy editor will each describe a typical week at the Press—what their work entails—and will join the editor for a Q&A session, to answer any and all questions.
To reserve a seat at the Thursday evening session, please email the Press at editor@ harvardpress.net. We’ll respond with an invitation, some optional reading, and a Zoom link to the meeting.
Fall can be a time of new beginnings. If you’ve done some journalism in high school, in college, or for another news organization, here’s an opportunity to resurrect those skills and put them to work for your town. If you’re drawn to journalism, but lack experience, the Press offers an environment where—with commitment—you can learn the art and craft of this vital contribution to local democracy. We hope you’ll visit with us next Thursday evening to learn more.
