Are Americans Seeing The End of Print Journalism?

The stunning announcement that the large daily newspaper in Atlanta, the Journal-Constitution, will soon end a printed product and go solely online reminded me I once owned a newspaper printing press and a barrel of ink.

I was among the few to be so lucky, I thought, but I was never more joyous than when an 18-wheeler backed up to the Leland Progress newspaper office and hauled it away to a Chicago buyer. For transparency’s sake, it was jointly owned with the late Virginia G. Gordon. She was just as happy as I to see that hunk of machinery disappear from the Mississippi Delta, where Leland is situated. The “Goss Community” press was part of the deal in 1978 when she and I left Meridian, where I was sports editor, and moved to her hometown to purchase the weekly newspaper and its printing business. I’d hug it right now if I could, but only for memory’s sake. I’d also hug the late Ned Ouzts, our printing superintendent who could take Goss apart and put it back together. His sons Chip and Keith and Willie Brooks of Leland also played key roles in our backshop.

In addition to the Leland Progress, several other newspapers flew off that press weekly: the Deer Creek Pilot of Rolling Fork, the Sunflower County News of Drew, the Enterprise-Tocsin of Indianola, The Ole Miss Spirit and the Greenville Shopper. Ned Ouzts and crew made them all happy customers.

So, it was with mixed emotions when we decided to sell our press. We contracted with the daily newspaper operation in nearby Greenville to henceforth print the Leland Progress.

I had spent my entire youth watching a newspaper press run—at the daily McComb Enterprise-Journal where my father toiled for 35 years as a reporter and editor. I began there as a “paper boy” at 12 before moving into the cub reporter and photography ranks.

Later, I was in the building when the Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger (two terms), Brownsville, Tx, Herald, Tupelo Journal, Meridian Star and, finally, the Leland Progress cranked up their presses. I can still hear their “on” whistles in dreams. This remembrance was shaped by news that the Atlanta newspaper would go entirely online in January. It won’t be the last of the nation’s major daily newspapers to make such a move. I suspect there will be dozens of newspaper presses for sale in the next few years.

Bill Torpy, one of the Atlanta paper’s grizzled reporters, wrote a pensive reflection about the AJC’s decision to quit print. “For almost 50 years of my working life, I have proudly called myself an ink-stained wretch. But not for much longer. After Dec. 31, I will no longer be working at a newspaper. That’s not to say The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will no longer exist. It will, it just will no longer be in the business of printing the news on dead trees,” Torpy said. “We all knew this was inevitable, just like we know our mortal being is finite. But you never expect the end. You think/hope/believe it will be somewhere off in the haze of the future.”

AJC publisher Andrew Morse wrote: “The fact is, many more people engage with our digital platforms and products today than with our print edition, and that shift is only accelerating. I don’t need to tell you how quickly the media landscape is evolving. “For you, and for us, holding onto the paper can bring a sense of comfort in a world of unrelenting change. But we cannot allow that to hold us back.” There’s one more press for sale.

---Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.