Part of my routine is looking for stories and columns about what’s happening in the local-news industry.
This week’s surprise was a run of stories about people repurposing newspaper boxes.
I love the creativity and have a soft spot for news memorabilia. But it’s also disappointing, especially in a big election year, that these boxes aren’t being refilled with newspapers to sell on busy street corners.
The stories described different ways the once ubiquitous boxes are being used for things like sharing old books and drugs.
The Associated Press reports that 60 of the metal boxes were recently distributed to 35 states for use dispensing Naloxone, the opioid reversal drug commonly known as Narcan.
“Such boxes — appearing in neighborhoods, in front of hospitals, health departments and convenience stores — are one way those supporting people with substance use disorder have sought to make Narcan, which can cost around $50 over the counter, accessible to those who need it most,” the AP reported.
These boxes don’t have locks and people can take what they need at no cost.
The boxes were provided by Mechanism Exchange & Repair, a Texas company that still sells to newspapers but has diversified as the news industry shrank.
Jeff Card of the family-owned business said they began making Narcan containers over two years ago.
“It’s fortunate and unfortunate,” Card told the AP. “Fortunate for us that we’ve got something to build, but unfortunate that this is what we have to build, given how bad the drug problem is in America.”
Indeed. It’s also too bad that fewer people are reading newspapers. They are the antidote to bad information, community disengagement and civic illiteracy.
For sure, the market for printed newspapers declined substantially in recent years. But they continue to be important sources of revenue for local news organizations, supporting journalism that’s essential to democracy. In my opinion, printed newspapers also remain the industry’s premium, artisanal product.
Most people get news online nowadays. But 26% of U.S. adults still get news “often” or “sometimes” in print, according to recent surveys by Pew Research Center.
That’s still a big market for any product. It also shows that millions of people are willing to pay for that premium product, despite the proliferation of free alternatives and the thinner newspapers being produced. I’ll bet more would pay if proposals to save and grow newsroom jobs take hold, reviving “ghost” newsrooms and improving the overall product.
Meanwhile, 54% of U.S. adults now get news sometimes or often from social media, 66% get it from web searches and 65% from news websites or apps, Pew found.
In this period of platform transition and circulation cutbacks, news distributors and publishers have let newspaper boxes languish in some places.
That prompted Jayne Burns of Sebastopol, Calif., to revitalize the “ugly, plain and abandoned news racks on the streets” of her town, according to a story in Editor & Publisher.
Burns, who used to own local papers with her husband, contacted an executive with the regional daily and received permission to spruce up the racks.
Working with teens at an arts apprenticeship program she’s involved with, Burns painted the racks decoratively. Then she started converting several of them into Little Free Libraries, where people share used books.
Burns told Editor & Publisher she hopes others follow suit, perhaps even newspapers that could hold a contest for artists to decorate unused boxes and add a promotional message.
“It’s also a feel-good idea for the community and encourages literacy and public art,” she said.
Perhaps they could do the art contest and still sell newspapers in some locations?
The third newspaper box story appeared in The Washington Post.
It wrote about a former Blockbuster employee in Los Angeles who converted newspaper boxes into a sort of Little Free Video Library.
Brian Morrison hatched the idea in late 2018 when he saw empty Los Angeles Times newspaper boxes in his neighborhood.
A friend was trying to get rid of a DVD collection so Morrison painted one of the boxes blue and yellow, with a Blockbuster logo, filled it with videos and called it Free Blockbuster, The Post reported.
There are now about 250 of these, run by volunteers, in multiple states, Canada and the U.K.
“It is most fun when it’s free, when people find something in their community, either an old news rack or some other piece of furniture that outlived its original use and needs to be brought back to life in a new way,” Morrison told The Post.
It is fun.
Though it’s also a painful reminder that Americans are spending less time reading the news and more of their waking hours watching old videos.
When local newspapers disappear, researchers found, voters are more likely to be clueless about civic affairs and who is leading their government.
I guess we can hope they find a copy of “The Manchurian Candidate” or “The Handmaid’s Tale” in a Free Blockbuster box.
This is excerpted from the free, weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress. Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley is the editor of the Free Press Initiative, which aims to inform the public about issues facing newspapers, local news coverage, and a free press. You can learn more about the Free Press Initiative, or sign up for a newsletter, at https://company.seattletimes.com/save-the-free-press/.
