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Matt Paxton
This item crossed my email in-box the other week from Al Cross’s Rural Blog, which is a digest of events, issues, trends, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, published by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky. The post was headlined: “Paxton Media Group tells at least some local papers to close their offices to the public; target date is Wednesday [Feb. 1].”
First of all, my family has no connection with the Paxton Media Group. I didn’t know it existed until about 20 years ago. Paxton Media is the fifth largest newspaper company in the country, owning close to 125 newspapers, including at least one in Virginia.
The post went on to quote a memo from Paxton Media stating that the move was a response to changes within the newspaper industry and was an effort to “streamline our efficiencies and processes.” The memo anticipated that there would be concerns from within the communities where those newspapers are located, but stated that other newspaper publishers outside of Paxton and some within has closed to the public “with nominal fallout, so we know it can be done successfully.”
I can’t think of a worse message that a newspaper could send to its community. To me, it says we really don’t want your news tip, or to see the picture you took of the 4-pound bass, the obituary you hand-typed, or even your classified ad. We don’t want you to be able to come in and complain to the editor face-to-face about a story, or bring in a birthday greeting with a physical photograph that we scan.
True, much of what we get from our readers comes in by email, some by phone, and some in the mail. We don’t get a lot of foot traffic in our office – some probably due to having to find a place to park in downtown Lexington. Even so, we would never consider shutting off that opportunity for direct interaction with our readers and customers.
This trend – I hope it’s short-lived – follows the implementation of automatic phone “attendants” over the past 20 years or more. We all know the drill: “Hello, this is XYZ Company. Thank you for calling. Please listen as our menu may have changed. If you know the extension of the party you are calling, please dial it now …” We’ve all had the experience of needing something not covered by the “menu that may have changed,” and not knowing the name of anyone at the company. Most of these systems don’t even have the option of a human operator to default to.
Well, there’s certainly email, that’s what everybody uses now. We all know the volume of email we get on a daily basis, much of it spam and unsolicited. Sent emails not responded to seem to be pretty much the norm these days.
I fail to see the logic in “streamlining our efficiencies and processes” to the extent that you make it difficult for customers to interact with your business. Every business needs to be aware of efficiencies and avoid unnecessary or frivolous expenditures, but the costs incurred by our newspaper to maintain our reputation as a community forum and welcoming of reader input I believe are valid and justified.
Our office will be open to the public five days a week, Monday-Wednesday, 9 to 5, Thursdays 9 to 1 and Fridays 9 to 4. Our phones will be answered by humans, not robotic attendants. If we don’t answer, we’re on another line or the office is closed. Leave a message and we will get back to you. We answer our emails to the best of our ability, given the flood of spam out there we have to wade through.
I don’t take pleasure in calling out other members of our industry, but I truly believe that many of the newspaper industry’s problems are made worse by owners that are only looking at the bottom line. Cutting reporters and editors, closing offices to the public and hiding behind automated phone systems just separates a paper from its community, and makes the community turn to other sources of information ‒ often less reliable sources.
That’s not good for the community and certainly for the newspaper in the long run. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ll wear it proudly.
