The Paperboy

The other day I was telling my friend’s nine-year-old daughter that I was a paperboy when I was a kid.

When she raised her eyebrows and looked confused, I realized that maybe she didn’t know what a paperboy was.

So I explained, “I was the guy who delivered your newspaper in the morning.”

It was at that point that I realized she probably didn’t know what a newspaper was either.

***

Since 2005, the number of newspapers published in the United States has dropped from 7,325 in 2005 to 4,490, according to the latest report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

An estimated 365,460 people worked at newspapers in 2005, and now that number is down to 91,550, the report said.

As reported by the AP: “While there has been an increase in new digital sites, the vast majority have been in urban or suburban areas, deepening the news crisis in rural areas. An estimated 50 million Americans live in counties with either no local news source or just one, the report said.”

These trends are creating “news desserts” across the U.S., which is allowing conspiracy theory peddlers and disinformation purveyors to fill the vacuum.

This is one of the reasons I work with the Local NEWS Network, headquartered in Durango, CO. LNN provides original local video news reports directly into local community gathering places like gas stations and hardware stores.

It’s one of a number of efforts to revive local news, which in turn can help revive local communities.

***

That conversation with my friend’s daughter brought back memories of a simpler world 60 years ago. I would ride my bicycle to the drop-off point early each morning and load the newspapers into the twin baskets on my bike.

Then I would ride through my neighborhood, which was a subdivision at the edge of town, throwing the newspapers onto the porches of those who subscribed, which was pretty much everybody.

If I missed a porch with an errant throw, I would hop off my Schwinn, walk up to the house and placed the newspaper on the doorstep. Twice while doing this, I got bitten by dogs.

At the end of each week, I would ride around the neighborhood once again, collecting the subscription money to turn into the newspaper company.

For this work, I earned a tiny fee, supplanted by tips from customers, mostly small coins.

Everybody in the area knew me, if not by name at least by sight, and I knew all of them. Over time, I learned many of their stories.

That’s really how I became part of that community. By being a paperboy.

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