
{"id":463,"date":"2007-06-21T07:32:03","date_gmt":"2007-06-21T15:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/06\/21\/the-blue-highways-journal-dispatches-from-a-latter-day-johnny-appleseed\/"},"modified":"2007-06-21T07:32:03","modified_gmt":"2007-06-21T15:32:03","slug":"the-blue-highways-journal-dispatches-from-a-latter-day-johnny-appleseed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/06\/21\/the-blue-highways-journal-dispatches-from-a-latter-day-johnny-appleseed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blue Highways Journal: Dispatches from a Latter-Day Johnny Appleseed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Jock Lauterer<br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get this straight: Newspapers are not vanishing. At least not my kind of newspapers.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, many major metros are in a circulation free-fall. But not my guys. The small, local or what we call \u00e2\u20ac\u0153community newspapers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c papers with circulations below 50k, many of them found off the interstates on the so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blue highways\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of this nation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are doing very well, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, these \u00e2\u20ac\u0153relentlessly local\u00e2\u20ac\u009d papers are so quietly successful that big-city papers have finally noticed and are copying them! Example: pick up today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s N&amp;O and count the number of local stories on the front page. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>The numbers<\/strong><br \/>\nNorth Carolina has only eight papers that might be considered major metros \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all the rest are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my peeps\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (as Selena, my hip Carrboro daughter, calls \u00e2\u20ac\u0153her people\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). This includes the 192 weeklies and small dailies of the Old North State. And of course, add to that mix our own Carrboro Commons.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like me, numbers make your eyes glaze over. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make this quick. Of the 9,321 newspapers in the U.S., only 217 are considered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153large.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Now listen to this stat: Statewide and nationwide, 97 percent of our newspapers are small papers. And they reach almost three times as many readers as do \u00e2\u20ac\u0153big\u00e2\u20ac\u009d papers.<br \/>\nOK, enough math. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cut to the chase.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what and who cares?<\/strong><br \/>\nVeteran Chapel Hill editor\/professor Jim Shumaker used to demand this of his reporters when they pitched him a story: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tell me why this matters!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>These are the papers that tell you when your garbage pick-up has changed, what the town council is up to, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be playing quarterback this week, when the library will open, what that new zoning ordinance will and will not allow, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for lunch at the school, who made the honor roll, when that road widening project will be done and how best to avoid traffic jams.<\/p>\n<p>These are also the papers where many of our students get their first internships and many grads get their first jobs. (I note with satisfaction that former student Jack Carley is now on the staff of The Citizen.) Just looking at the sheer numbers, wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the job of a great public university to encourage and empower such an industry?<\/p>\n<p>That was my thinking when in 2001 we launched the Carolina Community Media Project as a way to help strengthen the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s community papers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both rural and suburban. The real reason \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shu\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would pay attention to my pitch: The better the community paper, the more likely it is that that community will have a vital civic life and a sense of pride in place \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both keys to high livability in a free democratic society.<\/p>\n<p>The better the paper; the better the community.<\/p>\n<p>It ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rocket science, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen that dynamic at work too many times in too many places to discount the link.<\/p>\n<p>So how can I, just one person, make a difference here?<\/p>\n<p>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Johnny Appleseed comes in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The happy wanderer<\/strong><br \/>\nAs a child I loved the story of Johnny Appleseed, the wandering pioneer nurseryman, planting seedlings for free wherever he went. In my Little Golden Book, Appleseed was barefoot, skinny, bearded and whistling, toting a backpack full of tiny saplings &#8212; happy in his work.<\/p>\n<p>I was particularly captivated by Johnny Appleseed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s selfless work ethic, as he knelt to dig a hole, popped in a tiny sprout, back-filled the hole lovingly and then moved on to the next farm or village, perhaps never to see the fruits of his labor. But the man didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need accolades or affirmation; he knew he was doing what we Southerners call \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Reading my Little Golden Book, I thought to myself: Would that someday I could be so happy in my work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>On the road again<\/strong><br \/>\nAnd so it has come to pass. When, in the summer of 2001 I set out on the first series of free, onsite workshops for small newspapers around the state, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising that Johnny Appleseed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name and vision sprang to mind.<\/p>\n<p>Co-sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Carolina Center for Public Service, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153roadshow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d needed a descriptive handle. What better than that of the happy wanderer, planting seedlings wherever he went?<\/p>\n<p>Thus the name was coined: the Johnny Appleseed Summer Community Journalism Roadshow.<\/p>\n<p>The name was so catchy that smart-aleck colleagues began suggesting that I add the name of a new road warrior for each succeeding summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workshop. So today it has come to this:<\/p>\n<p>The Johnny Appleseed, Charles Kuralt, Jack Kerouac, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Possum-Dodgin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Summer Community Journalism Roadshow.<br \/>\nWhew!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nothing could be finer<\/strong><br \/>\nOver the course of seven summers, the roadshow has gone to 110 community newspapers, literally from Murphy to Manteo (or for real Tar Heels: from Wolf Creek to Whalebone). In my office hangs a state map peppered with brightly-colored pins marking the location of places I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve led workshops: among them are my favorite names: the Orator of Denton, the Standard Laconic of Snow Hill, the Herald and Ruralite of Sylva.\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 So far this summer the Roadshow has gone to Warrenton, Littleton, Hillsborough, Mebane, Denton, Bryson City and Burgaw.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing could be finer than to set out on a pristine morning in June and hit the North Carolina backroads.<\/p>\n<p>Come along, won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you? This summer I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m blogging from the road. Join me at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocommons.org\">carrborocommons.org<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/weblogs.jomc.unc.edu\/bluehighways\">weblogs.jomc.unc.edu\/bluehighways<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jock Lauterer Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get this straight: Newspapers are not vanishing. At least not my kind of newspapers. Yes, many major metros are in a circulation free-fall. But not my guys. The small, local or what we call \u00e2\u20ac\u0153community newspapers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c papers with circulations below 50k, many of them found off the interstates on the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}