Americans fail to appreciate local papers

yahoo AP ^ | 9/26/11 | Barbara Ortutay

[prolusion]

“Americans fail to appreciate local papers”

That’s funny, local papers fail to appreciate Americans.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The local papers stopped doing serious coverage of local events (including major car crashes and criminal activity) a long time ago, happy to simply repackage AP feeds, print syndicated comics and maybe add some sports scores from the high school teams."

Not in my experience. The local weekly where I currently live in Washington state is almost totally local news, as is the weekly from my home town down in Louisiana, which I still subscribe to (and which I think they send here by strapping said paper to the back of a turtle and having it swim round Cape Horn). VERY little AP byline stuff, and almost no comics.

Maybe local DAILY papers are different. I've never lived in a locale where there was a "small" daily local paper.

[Dr. Sivana]

Yes, the local daily papers are different. I have found that the weeklies, while local, have only fluff, and little hard local news (e.g. attempts by the nearby town to annex unincorporated territory, car crashes, etc.)

[Wonder Warthog]

"I have found that the weeklies, while local, have only fluff, and little hard local news (e.g. attempts by the nearby town to annex unincorporated territory, car crashes, etc.)"

Again, I have not found that to be the case for the two weeklies I am most familiar with. Both of them have crime reports, trial reports, accident reports, and much other local information, which "is" of interest at the local level, and unlikely to be reported elsewhere. And I think that is why purely local papers will survive when big dailies go "belly-up".