Complete Story
03/14/2018
Lima News guest columnist talks about why she loves her local newspaper
By Christina Ryan Claypool, Guest Columnist, The Lima News
Newspapers have changed significantly in my lifetime. If you’re a millennial or younger, you might not realize what an integral part of daily existence the newspaper once was, and why it continues to be important, especially in the local community.
For clarification, I’m not on staff at any newspaper, nor do my meager wages as a freelance columnist cause me to write about this topic. Instead because of my training as a journalist, I feel compelled to stand up for the medium that has been such a vital part of American life and is categorized by so many as obsolete. Or maybe it’s due to the fact that I recently watched the movie “The Post,” which is a profound reminder of the crucial role newspapers played in shaping history.
“The Post [is] a thrilling drama about the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents,” reports Rotten Tomatoes. Based on a 1971 true story, most movie viewers will be impressed by the courage of these long-ago journalists and of their pioneering female publisher who risked their reputations and monetary success to inform the public.
