Building a community with words

Shea Rowell
Class of 2019

(6/2018) 100 years ago, Emmitsburg’s local paper, the Emmitsburg Chronicle, went out of print. Amid the turmoil and demands of the Great War, the small country newspaper crumbled under the blow after serving the Emmitsburg community for 40 years. The newspaper article covering the Chronicle’s closing was mournful of the future of the town, as it no longer had the little town paper that had been its “neighbor
and best friend.” The town lost the news source created by its people, for its people, and the loss was felt in the following years.

One of the things that stands out to me about the article about the closing was the personal touch the Chronicle had. Unlike the newspapers of nearby big cities, the Chronicle was edited by a true Emmitsburgian, Sterling Galt. The article states that Galt brought humor, cleverness, and enthusiasm to the little town paper and used the forum to take a stand in favor of clean, ethical government. The
personality of the editor and the values of the town came through in the paper’s content and quality, making the paper a true mirror of Emmitsburg culture.

Another point that the writer of 100 years ago made that caught my attention, was that the loss of a small-town paper is like the loss of an involved community volunteer. The newspaper serves the community by promoting its events, informing the public about upcoming civic events such as elections and town hall meetings, and allowing its people to voice their opinions and observations to their fellow
townspeople. The town newspaper fulfills said services often for free, and with little desire to profit beyond the costs of its operation. In essence, the town newspaper is a service to the town that a town should prize and cherish.

It is the responsibility of the town to promote its paper; both the readers and the writers must fight to keep it alive. On the writers’ side, it is imperative that the paper serves the community with integrity and high quality standards. The paper must voice the concerns of the community and celebrate its victories, be present with it in times of both struggle and joy, and promote the values the community
cherishes. On the other side, the readers of the paper must reward such invaluable service with their loyalty and sponsorship.

In my short year as a writer for the Emmitsburg News-Journal, the Chronicle’s successor, I have learned more about the value of the small community paper than I ever thought I would need to know. I admit that besides viewing occasional online articles from my home town newspaper, I have never really valued it as I should have. In a town out of rural Virginia, bigger papers like the Washington Post easily
overshadow my small county’s paper. I have realized, however, what a grave mistake this has been.

One thing I never knew about small newspapers is that they not only report about communities, they create communities. As a Mount student from Virginia, I had very little connection to the town of Emmitsburg before coming to school, and very little community involvement even after moving onto Mary’s mountain. The Mount sometimes feels isolated from the outside world, as if the students and faculty there live in a bubble with a different culture than all the surrounding regions. The Emmitsburg News-Journal has connected me to the Emmitsburg community by reaching out a friendly hand, and reminding me that there are more people in this little town than my roommates and classmates. There are schools with students of all ages having events and celebrating achievements. There are businesses opening, closing, and changing each day. There are candidates seeking office, and elected officials who want to share their goals with the town. There are churches dedicated to seeking God by a variety of means. The list goes on. Through the Mount and particularly through ENJ, I now feel like I am a part of that community more than I otherwise would have been. I enjoy knowing what is going on in town, and taking a part in the “bridge” between town and campus life.

It has also taught me the value of the “personal touch.” I have had many edits returned to me with the criticism, “you took out the personal touch.” I hope I have since learned to keep it in! The personal touch is the voice of the writer who sounds like a person and not a machine. It is the understanding of a person who knows the people he or she is reporting about and loves the community he or she serves. It is the humor, the content that relates to the daily lives of readers, and even the honesty of the writers about who they are and what they really think—even if the opinion will not be universally shared.

Big papers cannot afford such liberties. They serve the wider community, and therefore must adhere to a wider set of needs. Their survival depends on popularity on a grander scale, and they must pander for readers and sponsors. They cannot be simply people who care about their communities—they are too scattered to know the communities they write about. The small paper knows you and serves your needs to the best of its ability. It combines the best quality standards with the familiarity of your “friendly neighborhood newspaper.”

When a town does not have a paper, it loses its voice. It loses the medium to draw people together from across town, and to unite them under their love for their community. It loses the informer who cares about it and who desires to bring out the community’s welfare through its very existence. It loses its access to history, dialogue, and local news. It suffers a great loss.

Therefore, (jokes about self-promotion aside) I encourage you to support your local paper to the best of your ability. The town benefits from the service of the paper, and will not be the same without it.

Read other articles by Shea Rowell