Nathan Tufts recently wrote to The Recorder on the nature of the stories it highlights on the front page. Like all of us who seek out current events, Mr. Tufts asserts that he looks for something “consequential,” which he explains as “ … something that will affect our lives.”
However, assuming that the only “things that matter” are the big headlines involving natural disasters, war and national politics, dismisses the very direct and important impact local events have on our lives.
The Recorder is a local newspaper; its primary focus is, as it states just under its name, “… Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.” The paper doesn’t exclusively feature local events, but it makes sense that local events would be featured on the first page.
One of the primary reasons I read The Recorder is because it is one of the few sources that covers local events in-depth. Even local radio stations and television news programs often ignore many of the stories you could only find in a newspaper like The Recorder.
In the rare cases where these stories are featured elsewhere, The Recorder has probably already covered the subject, and in more detail, too.
In a world that is more connected than ever before with the internet, international travel and increasing economic globalization, we obviously cannot ignore world events. But focusing too much on global and national issues leads us to ignore what is happening in our own neighborhoods.
Perhaps the change in ownership of a local restaurant or the facelift of a bank may not seem particularly important to everyone, but these occurrences certainly have a real impact on the local economy and the overall character of the places we live, work and do business in.
Just because a story isn’t featured in The New York Times doesn’t make it non-newsworthy or any less impactful.
That being said, it is important for The Recorder to not feature only local or national and global events on the front page, but a mixture of the two. It is important for readers to see the connection between local and world events, as they are certainly not isolated.
What happens in our community affects the world around us, just as much as occurrences in the outside world affect life in our neck of the woods. We cannot underestimate the power that both local and national events have to influence each other and our lives.
Matt Abbey
Athol