Who needs a newspaper? More people in times of anxiety – Daily News

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Daily News special issue in the aftermath of the Northridge Los Angeles earthquake on January 17, 1994 (Los Angeles Daily News file photo)

So, how long have we been together now? Twenty, 30 years, more? I know it’s been a long time, and I want to thank you for your loyalty to me, to your local newspaper.

Newspapers are soon celebrating 220 years in America – the first daily was the New York Post of Alexander Hamilton in 1801 – and we wouldn’t have made it without your support. You have kept a great tradition alive.

When I needed to know what was going on in your community, he turned to me. When I needed a car or an apartment or wanted to buy a house, he turned to me. When your kids won a championship in sports or a spelling bee, I was there to cover it up.

Every day, rainy or sunny, I’m right there on your driveway waiting for you to wake up. I never took a day off or called sick. Occasionally I might be late, but that’s not something I can control. I’ll be there for lunch.

I know many of you are reading to me online these days, and I appreciate your continued support. You, print readers, still want the real thing in your hands, ink on paper.

Some people say I’m just an old habit that you can’t get rid of, but I think I’m more than that. Much more. I think today I am as relevant to your life as the day you first printed.

Let me tell you a story about the true power of journalism. It was early in the morning, a few days after the Northridge earthquake, and one of my reporters was giving interviews on a residential street near the badly damaged Northridge Fashion Center.

He was talking to families still camping outside because they were afraid to sleep in their homes. They wanted to thank him. Why did the reporter ask? Didn’t do anything.

The morning after the earthquake, when the aftershocks were strong, and every little shaker brought more panic, they said, a car drove slowly down their street while the sun was shining, and came out of the car window.

I was four pages, very thin with news of the earthquake, but that wasn’t what they needed. It was earthquake news. What they desperately needed, was a kind of reassurance that things would be fine, and that life would return to normal.

Seeing their local newspaper, as I was skinny that day, still arriving after 24 hours of utter chaos and destruction, gave it to them. I have never felt more proud of being a newspaper than I did that morning.

Sometimes I wonder how the country survived all those years with Walter Cronkite only at night, and me in the morning? Not too bad, as I recall. You had plenty of time for dinner with the family, playing with the kids, a good book, and me. We were not in such a rush.

I introduced you to some great people you would never have met before, and printed your letters to the editor for everyone to see what’s on your mind. I gave you a voice that no one else can give you. I still do.

And because the sun will rise tomorrow, I’ll be right there on your driveway in the morning waiting for you to wake up, put on your robe, and come get me.

On behalf of Alexander Hamilton and all of America’s newspapers, I thank you for your loyalty.

Dennis McCarthy’s column is published on Sunday. He can be reached at [email protected].

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