PRESS: Not perfect, just local

I’m not a Cd’A Press spokesperson, but I feel the need to speak on their behalf.

Lately someone chastised the Press for the placement of an article about Margaret Thatcher’s death. It was relegated to the bottom of the main page, while news about a local teen’s fight with swallowing a grill cleaner bristle made top headlines.

I politely suggest that the Cd’A Press is not meant to be, nor should they be expected to be, the main discharger of news on the national and world level. This is a local newspaper. As a reader, I expect local news to have priority.

Local news is what makes the Press a unique news source for those of us who live here. The writing is far from perfect (not much excuse for using “weather” for “whether”), and it’s fairly easy to find spelling and grammatical errors each day. There are mistakes in reporting. The letters to the editor make me shake my head. But most of the paper’s news is still uniquely Coeur d’Alene.

I can understand why there would be disappointment if the Press is read as a sole source of news. But this is the age of internet, radio, and TV news, with instant and ongoing coverage of the latest news stories everywhere. To expect a local newspaper, published once per day, to compete with those outlets is unreasonable.

Newspapers around the world are struggling for readership and many well known outlets are already out of business. I believe small town newspapers actually have a better chance of survival due to their appeal to the small community, something lost in the big cities.

We keep hearing about cultivating global citizenship. I contend we must start by being good local community citizens, by knowing the news of our local community, and then participating as we can. It’s where we have the most control. Luckily we still have a news source that can provide us with the information we should know. Imagine having to attend every school board meeting, city council meeting, etc. just to be informed.

Who won’t admit to enjoying columns like Kerri Thoreson’s “Main Street.” It harkens back to society pages of 100 years ago. It nurtures community. We get to read about our own “Patty Duke” or find out when John Travolta has been in town to visit his sister Ellen. And sometime the news might even include us!

Embrace the importance of a local paper for the purpose it has and appreciate its goal of keeping our community enlightened. Admittedly this paper is far from perfect and in need of improvement. But for today let’s give those who work there a break and actually thank them for what is probably a pretty thankless job. And be thankful there is still a newspaper in town that will print all of our opinions, whether we like them or not.

CYNTHIA MARLETTE

Coeur d’Alene