OPINION
By URIAH KISER
After taking a job at Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger in 2006, during an orientation session I asked if the management had any plans to combine the two newspapers that served Prince William County. I was met with some uneasiness when they answered my question.
“We’re not in the business of killing newspapers,” said Candi Johnson, who for many years was the lifeblood of the organization working as the publisher’s assistant and HR coordinator.
Growing up with the Potomac News, delivering papers for them, and living in Prince William County for so many years, I thought it was a good idea. I’ll admit my question about consolidation is not something a new employee would, or even should, ask during their first week on the job.
But that’s what eventually happened: both newspapers combined to form News & Messenger in 2009, and today I read the final edition of that newspaper. In a heartfelt goodbye, writing in an editorial, the publisher thanked the readers and advertisers who supported the newspaper over its 143-year history. The newspaper, about 160 others in the Media General chain, were purchased by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway in spring. The company announced News & Messenger’s closure in November.
News & Messenger was the very first job I ever loved. I learned how the news business works, the importance of advertising, and the benefits of marketing. I started in advertising, and later as a reporter, I learned more about the community in which I grew up in than I could ever imagine: how it works and the way things happen. And I got to move in the circles of the people and places that bring about change in our community.
News & Messenger gave me the freedom to grow professionally and journalistically, and it showed me how a neighborhood news organization can bring a community together.
Today I say thank you to all of the people whom I worked with at News & Messenger. Those who worked tirelessly to tell the stories of our hometown, the advertising professionals who supported that work, and the professional staff behind the scenes who helped put it all together. I know that some of you are moving on to new jobs, others still searching for what to do next, and another staffer I spoke with questioned whether he should go back to work or take his accumulated savings and equity and tour the world. To him, I say there’s no time like the present. To the rest, I say good luck and best wishes for the New Year, for when one door closes another opens. I’d like to think I’m living proof of that.
The final editorial inside of today’s newspaper noted the organization had seen better days. With its ending circulation down to 8,000 copies, dwindling advertising revenue for print, and the rise of the web and mobile devices that have connected us in ways never before possible, newspapers are no longer the place people look to first for news.
But they were, and still can be, a home for long form, in-depth news coverage. Readers still like to curl up with a newspaper on a slow Sunday and read about issues and people that affect their world. For so many years, the newspaper has been the way to do that.
And it’s good to know Prince William County will not be without newspapers. Prince William Times and Prince William Today have announced they will launch next month as weekly newspapers. Insidenova.com – the website for the departing News & Messenger – will also stick around. I look forward to working alongside them at PotomacLocal.com and ManassasLocal.com to help inform the community.
Thanks for the memories, News & Messenger. We won’t forget how you pioneered local news in our community and set the standard for local news in Prince William County.
