The recent “Observers view” of March 6 really caught my attention. With the mastheads of two and one half newspapers disappearing in the U.S. each week there is no doubt that newspapers across the nation are in competition with online news sources, websites, Social media and television for advertising dollars and circulation.

The Empire State Local News Coalition that the OBSERVER and Post-Journal are members of is supporting the Local Journalism Sustainability Act sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Carrie Woerner with bipartisan support from 55 co-sponsors.

This act would provide tax credits to local news outlets for the employment of journalists and would incentivize news organizations to add jobs. I believe that in the current media climate without this type of legislation, one morning we will wake up and find that there is no local newspaper lying by our door.

Newspapers have occupied an important role in informing the public since colonial times. Many historians of the American Revolution have said that without newspapers, there would have been no revolution. There is little doubt that the 37 newspapers publishing in the colonies at the time did much to fan the flames of rebellion by printing stories from the Boston press about British outrages against Boston and its citizens in the period encompassed by the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and Lexington and Concord.

During the war newspapers informed the public of news from the battle fronts, increasing support for the cause. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote to General Nathaniel Greene that a newspaper “In the present state of affairs would be equal to at least two regiments.”

Beginning in the 19th Century nearly every county seat and towns of more than 500 people supported one or more weekly newspapers. Even in colonial days the people of the colonies and later of the U.S. were highly literate, and readers had a thirst for news on issues of international and national importance but especially on local issues that included local politics, local government, and large doses of news about local social events and what passed for society in a community. During this period, it was common that when one paper went out of business it was quickly replaced by another. These papers were often involved in local politics with the editor/owner deeply involved in local party affairs.

The late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries was the heyday of newspapers in America. In 1900 readers in New York city had a choice between 15 papers and even citizens of smaller cities could select from several evening and morning papers,

Newspapers have faced competition from other media in the past. In the 1920s and 30s, competition came from the new medium of radio when local stations and networks saw news programming as a source of profits. The public no longer had to wait until the next day for news but often had it within minutes of an event. Still, newspapers managed to hold their own against this competition.

In the 1950s television became a fixture in most American homes. Television quickly became a popular medium for providing local, national, and international news. Gradually network and local news programs grew from fifteen minute shows to a half hour and even an hour. Now in the Twenty-first century there are multiple cable news network’s providing news 24/7.

Papers fought back against these competitors with features, investigative journalism, expanded sports coverage, radio and television program guides and more recently with web sites.

However, the last 20 years have not been kind to print media in general. The rapid rise of digital media over the internet and the proliferation of smartphones has had devastating effects on newspapers worldwide. Many industry observers have characterized these factors as posing an existential threat to newspapers.

For me a newspaper has always been a kind of mobile information device, sort of like a smartphone that doesn’t require battery power that you can take with you and read on a break or at lunch or anytime. But now according to a recent poll, only 23% of American adults currently buy physical newspapers.

I think that a thriving newspaper is important to any community as a way of disseminating local news, and as a means of recording a community’s history. A newspaper is also a means to instigate discussions of important community issues.

In Chautauqua County we are fortunate in having two daily papers that give us a combination of local, state, national, and international news along with thorough coverage of local sports, comics, features and a variety of puzzles, my favorite being “Hocus Focus.” These are a combination of things available nowhere else in one package.

As someone who finds newspapers an important part of my life, I think that the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is worthy of consideration and passage by the legislature.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com