As a matter of fact, I do mention the News Chief. I promised to count the locally written stories in the same manner as I did for the Ledger. However, I found a mere four local bylines in today’s News Chief. That’s what you get for your quarter.

On to what I wrote about the paper of record for Polk County…and by example…your paper.

Today is “Buy A Newspaper Day.” The effort is an attempt to get readers offline and back to purchasing their local newspaper. The fact the campaign was conducted entirely online doesn’t escape me.

Nevertheless, I bought a newspaper today. In fact, I purchased two. The Ledger and the News Chief. The former, based in Lakeland, covers Imperial Polk county and cost $.75. The News Chief boasts that it is “SERVING EAST POLK COUNTY MORE THAN EVER.” Obviously a Winter Haven operation, it was a mere $.25. Both newspapers are “an affiliate” of the News York Times Company. The News Chief is nice enough to also call the Ledger an “affiliate,” but the Ledger doesn’t return the love.

What did I get for my $1? My true test of a newspaper is: how many articles by their own reporters versus how many articles pulled from wire services and out-of-town affiliates. The Ledger was 36 pages in three section: Main, Polk & Florida, and Sports. In the main section, which tends to cover national and international news, the Ledger had two stories by local reporters, and one of them was really a sports piece. I counted 14 Associated Press and other service stories. That doesn’t count the editorial pages. Other than Letters to the Editor, the rest of the content was written out-of-town. Well, maybe the 11 paragraph editorial on President Obama’s “sea change against secrecy” might have been locally written, but it’s too general to tell.

I turned to the Polk & Florida section with a good feeling I’d find plenty of locally written stories there. I found three written by Ledger staff or local freelance writer, four Ledger-produced columns, and eight out-of-town pieces and columns. One of the local pieces was actually about local fans attending, you guessed it, the Super Bowl. I did also find two reader poems and the obits. Strange thing about the obituary these days. If you want more than seven lines, you have to pay for it. Unless you’re famous or died in a hail of bullets.

Sports were the thing where we found the conscience of the Ledger.(1)There were seven Ledger produced articles; almost all on the Super Bowl. Make it 7.5 as there was a column of Super Bowl tidbits by “Ledger staff.” A page of Super Bowl photos included just one by a Ledger photographer. Add two AP basketball stories and we’re ready for the final tally:

The Ledger falls 16.5 to 24(2). Sorry, I fell into that Sports mode. It’s difficult to even say it was that close as more than half of the Ledger produced pieces were on the Super Bowl and related stories. There can’t been a lot of Super Bowl content special to Imperial Polk county. Most of the Ledger articles focused on the game and the star plays and players. Good sports writing, but considering the Super Bowl is the most covered and watched American sporting of the year, I doubt most readers couldn’t have found similar articles in most any newspaper in the county.

What does this all mean?

Gone are the days when you’d heft the paper onto the breakfast table and learn about your community and how it relates to the state, nation, and the world. The sad fact is that newspapers have become blogs.

Yes, blogs.

You see, blogs started as individually crafted sites that almost exclusively pointed to interesting items found on the Internet. It seems our Ledger is much the same thing as an editor, or editors, finds the best of the other newspapers and wire services and puts it in a easy-to-read format for your breakfast reading.

The daily newspaper most of us remember from our youth is dead. There is no saving it. Readers never really supported newspapers, advertisers did. We were just the eyeballs newspapers needed to convince advertisers to place ads. The economy is hurting, advertisers are pulling back like turtles into their shells, and newspapers are laying off experienced reporters. The future is bleak to black.

But, I’ve come to praise newspapers, not to bury them. (3)

The future of the local newspaper is to return to the Wild West years and focus on the local community. Forget the stories of celebrities smoking bongs, and drop filler such as articles about a Texas family looking to clear the name of a relative(4). Use a local reporter to cover the story of a local Representative deciding to run for Agriculture Commissioner. Find the local angle for every story. If you really want to send reporters to the Super Bowl (party) then find a player that attended a local college, see if there is a cheerleader who once yelled “Give Me an L!.” or a concession vendor who will feed his family for a month on what he made in tips from over-served fans.

The newspaper I purchased today I could have watched on television last night. There was precious little I couldn’t have found online this weekend.

So why buy a newspaper?

Cary McMullen, Rick Rousos, Gary White, the Browns: Lonnie and Rick, Cindy Skop, Rick Runion, Michael Wilson, Scott Wheeler, Sarah Stegall, Suzie Schottelkotte, Tom Palmer(5), Bill Rufty, Jeremy Maready, Rachel Pleasant, John Chambliss, Shoshana Walter, Robin Williams Adams, Glenn Marston, Bill Blocher, Del Milligan, Trent Rowe, Kyle Kennedy, Kevin Bouffard, Heidi DeVries, Merissa Green, Michael Freeman, and Dick Scanlon (6).

Those are (most of) the reporters and photographers you’ll find in the Ledger, with apologies to those I’ve left off the list. All live and work in the area. All have an understanding of our community, our politics, and our history. They’re supported by editors, sales reps, clerks, and other locally based(7) staff. All (8) are the reasons to buy the Ledger.

Maybe we can convince Ledger publisher Jerome Ferson the secret to reversing the readership and advertising loses is to pull back and focus on Polk County talent and stories. It’s fine if that means cutting back to once or twice a week publication. We’d understand. No one reads the paper for breaking news anymore. Take your time to craft stories with insight and community pertinence. We’d buy that newspaper and keep it on the breakfast counter for the weekend. (And wouldn’t you love to tell your advertisers the paper stays around until every page is read by every family member? Who throws away a weekly magazine before it is finished?)

Today wasn’t the last Ledger I’ll buy, but I really hope I’ll get more McMullen,Rousos,White,Brown,Skop,Runion,Wilson,Wheeler,Stegall,Schottelkotte,Palmer,Rufty, Maready,Pleasant,Chambliss,Walter,Adams,Marston,Blocher,Milligan,Rowe,Kennedy,Bouffard,DeVries,Green,Freeman and Scanlon (9) for my money.

(1) Apologies Bard.
(2) I didn’t include the comics at all. There hasn’t been a locally produced comic strip in years.
(3) Sorry Bard. Again.
(4) Both articles were in in today’s newspaper.
(5) Yes, Tom Palmer
(6) Yes, even Dick Scanlon, though he apparently doesn’t think Mark McGwire deserves a Hall of Fame vote.
(7) I do not count the staff for operations the Ledger has outsourced.
(8) See #6 and add Tim Raines
(9) See #6 and add Andre Dawson
(10) What about the News Chief? This is a Lakeland-centric site. You’ll have to read about the News Chief later this afternoon over at Metro i4 News.

photo credit: Chuck Welch for Metro i4 News

Yes – that headline says April 15. Your tax forms must be in the mail by midnight tonight.

Apopka Cops say that the house being used for a reality show was once used to broadcast live sex acts for an adult entertainment Web site. Can’t you imagine the idiots behind this? “Hey, we got this house sitting here – we need to use it to get rich and famous!”

In Haines City, work on the North Sixth Street streetscaping project has been postponed because of paperwork requested by Florida’s Department of Community Affairs. Meanwhile in Winter Haven, Third Street between Avenue A Southwest and Avenue E Northwest is undergoing a face lift as part of that city’s continuing effort to improve the downtown. The work is expected to take the rest of the year.

Mulberry Police Deputy Chief Jody Beaudry was arrested Monday on charges of sexual battery and engaging in unlawful sexual activity with a minor. FDLE investigators say in 2004, Beaudry threatened to revoke a 16 year old girl’s probation if she did not have sex with him. Sounds like rape to me.

A Ledger editorial notes the Bush Administration’s terrible EPA record.

Compared to 2007, Sun ‘n Fun President John Burton said that daily attendance during the week was down 5 percent or 6 percent each day for the first four days of the six-day event. There was no dropoff in deaths surrounding the event.

Media General’s Florida Communications Group is offering voluntary buyouts to about half its 1,326 employees, including those with The Tampa Tribune and WFLA, News Channel 8. They are trying to reduce staff and other costs in a difficult economic environment in the Tampa Bay area, said John Schueler, president of Florida Communications Group, which oversees the operation of The Tribune, WFLA, TBO.com and other Florida media outlets.

The book The Land is about the son of a prosperous landowner and a former slave whose white father raises him openly in post-Civil War Georgia. The book includes use of the N-word. After a parent’s complaint, a committee of school administrators, parents and teachers from Turner Elementary School in northeast Hillsborough County said The Land by Mildred Taylor was “above the maturity level of elementary students” and will donate the book to a middle school, school officials said Monday.

Tampa Tribune Editorial: In scoring and hosting championship games, Tampa has been outstanding. But Orlando is investing a billion dollars in sporting venues and other facilities, and are on the way to building commuter rail. Tampa needs to stay ahead of Orlando.

That’s it for now. Feel free to go finish your taxes.

Polk Businesses Should Get Lots Of Spillover When Fans Flood Tampa

“The great thing for a family, if they stay in Lakeland, they’re halfway to events in the Super Bowl and also close to Disney,” [executive director of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee Reid] Sigmon said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there are groups already reserving. There are people that, as soon as the game is awarded, start searching for hotel rooms.”

While I don’t believe the economic impact is in the “hundreds of millions,” there is no question that hosting a Super Bowl gives some local businesses extra spending money. Again from The Ledger:

“There’s no question about it: Anytime you can attract tourists who can spend a lot of money, that’s what you want,” [executive director of Polk County Sports Marketing Mark] Jackson said.

Businesses most likely to benefit will be those located along the I-4 corridor, which allows visitors to get to the game on Super Bowl Sunday within an hour, even if they’re staying near the Disney area, he said.

Polk might have one advantage with fans who find a room close to Disney and the other Orlando attractions, Jackson said. Many, particularly those who come with families, tend to stay a little longer.

“These people turn it into a minivacation. They don’t come down for a couple of days. They come down for a week.”