Another voice of the people goes silent

Community newspapers unite us. Sometimes they highlight something as consequential as a crime wave or as simple as a pothole, but they emphasize what is best – as well as what is needful – in our neighborhoods.

As national and international coverage pulls us apart, separating us into ideological tribes, local media reminds us what we have in common – for good or for ill. There is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the trash, after all.

Local newspapers stand as a key element in the creation of a sense of community, hence the moniker, and with the death of The Clarion Herald, New Orleans becomes slightly less of one. After 63 years of covering everything from high school sports to parish fish fries, the local Roman Catholic newspaper will cease publication in its current form at the end of June.

The move comes after a committee of archdiocesan church clergy voted this past summer to eliminate two main sources of funding for the newspaper, both of which come directly from individual parish coffers: one percent of weekly collections and a $15 fee assessed to each Catholic school family.

Collectively, those funding sources constitute roughly half of The Clarion Herald’s $1 million annual budget. Absent those monies, the publication – which has a circulation of 37,000 – can no longer afford to continue as a biweekly newspaper, according to longtime editor Peter Finney Jr.

The Clarion Herald, like The Louisiana Weekly, has often covered stories which could not and would not appear anywhere else. Its print aspect and its wide distribution in Catholic churches and coffee houses made it accessible for those caught iPhone-less in the digital divide.

Despite a valiant effort being undertaken by the archdiocese to resurrect the publication in some quarterly or digital format, the loss of regular reporters covering parish-based or school-based beats cannot be replicated on an occasional schedule. A 2011 report by the Federal Communications Commission found that local newspapers serve as the best medium to provide the sort of public service journalism which shines a light on “the major issues confronting communities and gives residents the information they need to solve their problems.”

The United States has lost one-third of its newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005, an average of 2.5 newspapers closed each week in the last two years alone. Put another way, 3,000 newspapers have closed in the last two decades, and 43,000 newspaper journalists have lost their jobs.

Some of the closures may have proven inevitable, yet the decision to allow corporate chains to buy out the competition and establish monopoly metropolitan dailies has had a chilling effect on the print advertising market – which has historically supported local newspapers. GE stands as the most famous case of becoming a parent company of news outlets despite many corporate interests which might conflict with unbiased news coverage.

The largest 25 newspaper chains own a third of all newspapers, including two-thirds of the country’s 1,200 dailies. Not surprisingly, the number of independent owners has declined significantly in recent years, as family-owned and community papers have thrown in the towel and sold to “the big guys.”

Thanks to a lack of antitrust enforcement and economies of scale, the local advertising market has reached a tipping point where it cannot alone support local media. It is up to hometown stakeholders to subscribe, purchase advertising, and contribute financially to keep community newspapers alive.

This autumn, The Louisiana Weekly will celebrate his 100th anniversary. Nevertheless, our newspaper is not immune to the pressures visited upon our fellows. One of the oldest consistent voices of the African-American community, and for those who often find themselves without coverage in the mainstream media, the continued existence of newspapers like ours takes on a moral imperative. As The Clarion Herald closes its doors, so much parochial and parish news will find itself uncovered and untold, the loss will hollow out a part of New Orleans’ soul, just as it has in other communities dependent upon their unique newspaper source.

Many speculate as to the source of the divisions in our society in recent years, yet our editors postulate that the diminishing outlets for local news have played a large role in our greater social divisions. Keeping community newspapers alive is up to the subscribers and to the myriad of those who care about our neighborhoods and cultures. Losing local newspapers means America as a whole faces becoming more tribal and more divided than even now, even more than we can conceive.

This article originally published in the March 24, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.