Based in Sydney, Australia, Foundry is a blog by Rebecca Thao. Her posts explore modern architecture through photos and quotes by influential architects, engineers, and artists.

Status Report

Status Report

“US Newspapers Face ‘Extinction-Level’ Crisis as COVID-19 Hits Hard” –The Guardian

“The Atlantic Lays Off 68 Employees, or 17% of Staff, Cuts Pay for Executives” –Variety 

“Oklahoma Newspaper Closes After 110 Years”  –KJRH radio (Tulsa)

I could write a whole editorial about the decline of newspapers as a kind of found poem: a series of dire headlines.

Even before the pandemic — even before accelerated attacks on the press by the occupant of the White House and police targeting of journalists during protests across the country — things were looking grim for newspapers. More than one in five closed in the U.S. between 2004 and 2019, according to a report by the University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Many people expect to be able to read the news online for free, if they read it at all. And advertisers have largely taken their dollars elsewhere. 

Local weeklies have been hit particularly hard. Community mainstays like Seattle’s Stranger, Chattanooga’s Pulse, and Madison (WI)’s Isthmus — where I wrote in the 1990s — suspended publication after COVID hit. The restaurants and music venues whose advertising supported them shut down. Dozens more outlets slashed staff to the bone. 

Closer to home, the Delaware County Daily Times has laid off reporters, seen the retirement of its long-time editor, and now increasingly fills its pages with wire-service stories rather than broadly covering Delco news. They still do a pretty decent job, under the circumstances. I subscribe. 

I hope the question wriggling to the top of your brain is: Why are you reading this newspaper right now?

As many of you know, the Swarthmorean — which has published continuously since 1893 — nearly closed its doors in 2017. Rob Borgstrom and Todd Strine jumped in to buy it just as it looked like its sun was setting. They didn’t do it because they had long aspired to add “publisher” to their varied portfolios of occupations, but because they knew how important the paper was to the community. A few months later, for the same reason, Greg Hoy joined them. 

In March, when the pandemic hit, I thought my young career as a newspaper editor — begun only last November — was over. It seemed all but certain that, like my beloved Isthmus, we too would soon shut our doors.

But that’s not what happened.

Largely, that was because of you. The Swarthmorean is privileged to be supported by nearly 1,500 individuals and families who recognize the value of their local paper. Some of you have proudly told me that your family has subscribed to the Swarthmorean for well over 50 years.

In terms of advertising, we were fairly well positioned for the pandemic. While ads in urban weeklies come largely from dining, drinking, and performance venues, the Swarthmorean’s advertisers are mostly plumbers and roofers, landscapers and tree services, real estate companies and auto shops. We are grateful to all of them.

Over the last year or so, a few underwriters in particular have stepped up to support us in a major way. This is partly because advertising in the Swarthmorean is good for their business. Our subscribers tend to read the paper closely, and many have enticing disposable income, even during an economic downturn. But advertisers like 320 Market Cafe, Swarthmore College, and Media Real Estate (owned by publisher Todd Strine’s family) also have made major financial commitments to this paper because they value local journalism.

In May, the Swarthmorean welcomed a new advertiser, Aqua ChemPacs, whose full-page ad you have seen in the paper every week since May. The company sells eco-friendly cleaning products, making them a good fit for our many environmentally conscious readers. Because of Aqua Chem’s investment in us, we have actually expanded this year, bringing on an associate editor, Satya Nelms.

It’s been a hard year, and it doesn’t look like things are going to get easier any time soon. Here at the Swarthmorean, we’re doing our best to tell the stories of the way this particular, vibrant, passionate community is managing in the face of multiple challenges. We know how lucky we are to be able to do this.

And we know who to thank.

Rachel Pastan
Editor

The Swarthmorean reaches many local households, but certainly not all of them. Newer residents in particular may not know about us. Gift subscriptions cost $60. R.P.

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