I started in journalism at a gritty daily newspaper that had the pulse of its equally gritty city — this city — but not enough advertisers to keep its own pulse going. That paper was the Baltimore News-American. Two years after I left the paper, it closed. The headline “So Long, Baltimore” graced its final front page.
Today marks another sad farewell. This is the last time you will be reading this newspaper. By now, you know. It’s been all over the news for two weeks. Newspapers seldom make the news in a good way. No news, in journalism, is never good news. But sometimes, the alternative is worse.
It took about 20 years for this city to get another daily newspaper — longer than even our wait for pro football. We lost this team in less than three. One more sad domino in a nationwide news collapse.
That’s more than a statistic. A good newspaper is part of its community. This one filled a void almost forgotten by Baltimore readers — our hearts.
A famous newspaper phrase says journalists are supposed to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” But a good newspaper like The Examiner does all that and more. It covers the Ravens because Baltimore bleeds purple and black like it once bled orange and black. It covers the Orioles because many of us still care, God knows why. It reports on mayors and their cozy relationships with developers and tells readers how businessmen are shut down just because police exert too much power.
A good newspaper isn’t pulp and ink. It’s people. Damn fine people you might never meet. Young reporters trying to make a difference in a dying or at-best changing industry. Veteran reporters who have survived layoffs, downsizings and closings to bring you the news you need each day. It’s ad salespeople who try their darnedest to help your business thrive and deliverymen and women who break their backs carrying tons of information to your home in all kinds of weather.
All those people come together each day so you can know what’s going on in your community. Today, they gather in print one last time for an ink-stained wake. For me, it’s not a true farewell. I write and appear elsewhere. But there is nothing like having a regular voice in the city and state you hold so dear. I will miss it deeply.
Only it doesn’t have to end here. Local news is changing. New Web sites, online video and other options will give readers a chance to experience news as never before. And those operations will need talented, hard-working journalists like the ones who graced these pages every day.
I urge the entrepreneurs out there to think long and hard about this opportunity. Baltimore is too big of a town to be truly served by only one major daily voice. The possibilities are there to do something important for this city. And these people are the ones who could help make it happen.
If not, there is still a wealth of talent within these pages to help carry a good business through tough times. Hiring the right people is always good business.
That fact made The Examiner stand out. And it made me proud to have been part of such a bold and daring venture.
When the Colts left Baltimore, the infamous Bob Irsay skipped town in the middle of the night. Today, this paper goes out of business in broad daylight with its head held high. This team did everything it could to win and never turned its back on the people who loved it.
So long, Baltimore.
Dan Gainor will still be seen Thursday’s on Foxnews.com “Strategy Room.” He is T. Boone Pickens fellow at the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
