We hear the word often, newspaper; first word “news,” second word “paper.” However, one cannot define a newspaper by its second word alone, as Arthur Sulzberg says, “They’ve got to be defined by the first word—news.” From the first introduction of newspapers in the American Colonies in 1690 to modern day, they have always played a critical role in America’s news consumption. Though, the goal of the newspaper is to deliver the news to the reader, one will find a major change in what the headlines report based on which audience the paper is trying to reach. Readers can easily find these differences when reviewing national/major newspapers versus local newspapers, which this blog post will discuss.
During these strange, crazy times, it helps to know how leaders are handling various situation. However, who and what they report on is where local and major newspapers differentiate. Local papers report about how the governor of Texas is handling, say, the COVID-19 pandemic, while major newspapers report on how the president and U.S. government are responding to this virus outbreak. Why is this? This difference is due, largely in part, to who is reading the paper. The target of local newspapers is to present the regional news to their community, keeping the reader informed on the happenings in their local area. This means producing papers about their county and state governments, and reporting on how the county and state’s actions are helping or hurting their community. Major newspapers, on the other hand, have a wider range of audiences they have to reach, and work to present the people the story of their times. It has to deliver national news to the reader, keeping them informed on what is happening within their country and, generally, the world. Arthur Miller, an American playwright, once stated, “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” Accordingly, major papers give the reader a look on what the nation is saying to itself, presenting how the president and U.S. government are responding to the situation(s) at hand.
It is necessary for major newspapers to report on how national and global influences are effecting their country and state. For illustration, if a major newspaper company has its base in New York it reports the things that influence the lives and interest of New Yorkers. Likewise, a Texas-based newspaper company writes about those issues at hand that affect Texans. Local papers, on the contrary, report on how local and state governments are effecting their counties and cities.
Through reading the headlines of major newspapers and local papers, one distinction stands out. As stated above, local newspapers keep the reader informed on the happenings of their area. Local newspapers read more personal, whereas major papers read more informative. Because major companies do have to report on statewide and national news, it becomes more of an announcer of information rather than a personal informer. Niki Turner, editor of the Herald Times, sums it up perfectly when she says, “A local newspaper is a living history textbook. It tells the stories of the people it represents and the journey they are on together.” Having a source memorializing local business ads, stories of business and people locally known, and hometown events or those in the surrounding area, the local newspapers feel like locals paper, their “history textbook.”
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