We have lost another old friend. Not to be morbid, but I’ve come to that age in life where I begin each new year wondering who won’t make it through the year. I’m afraid I’ve come to that point when I have more family in Heaven than I do on Earth. I begin each new year by praying that I and mine will make it through another one. People often say that nothing lasts forever. That is true…nothing last forever, at least not in this world, but this world and its things is not all there is.
As children, we really don’t think we will live forever; maybe because we really don’t think about it at all. We are too caught up in living at that stage to be concerned about dying. One old friend I’ve thought would never die is a thing…the newspaper. I’m not sure how much longer I will write this column, mainly because I’m not sure how much longer there will be newspapers. We’ve had newspapers almost as long as we’ve been a nation. Ben Franklin and his brother James printed and published one of our first. Sadly, we’ve lost over 3,200 print newspapers in the last 25 years. Several of the newspapers that once carried my columns have now closed their doors.
Last week, one of our nation’s major newspapers printed its last. The old friend we lost was The Atlanta Journal Constitution. While an electronic or computer edition of that paper will continue, the giant newsprint edition, which began its run 157 years ago, came to an end last week. Back when I lived in Marietta, Georgia, I received that historic paper each day. I especially enjoyed the Sunday edition. Sometimes it almost took me until the next Sunday’s copy landed in my driveway to read it all. A friend of mine had to give up his paper route after pulling a bicep while hurling that massive paper! It could crack your concrete driveway!
Many other print newspapers that I have read through the years, such as The Birmingham Post-Herald and The Birmingham News, are now gone, too. The good news is that most newspapers that have stopped printing a paper newspaper do have an online newspaper. Some say this is much better. Perhaps so, but it still saddens me. I guess it is because I am old, or at least old school. I am not above reading a book or a newspaper online, but I prefer both on paper. I love to hold a book in my hands. I love to lie in the floor and read a newspaper that is spread out in front of me. Of course, I do find it harder to get back up from the floor these days!
My current hometown newspaper, The Opelika-Auburn News, does still have a print edition three days a week. It is also available online. While I have written newspaper columns periodically for more than 40 years, I am thankful to The Opelika-Auburn News for giving me my first weekly column. This month I begin my 13th year in that newspaper. Since then, others across Alabama and Georgia, including my native hometowns of Rainsville and Fort Payne, have picked up my column. Many of those newspapers are small-town weekly papers. They seem to be surviving somewhat better than many of the larger ones.
Thank you to each publisher for this opportunity. Thank you to each reader who buys and reads what we have written. Please don’t let our newspapers be another national treasure we lose.
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
