Cortland is about 30 minutes from Ithaca. The situation in Ithaca is mentioned in the article, but I think his version is incomplete.
Ithaca still has a daily paper, the Ithaca Journal but it's a joke. Sometimes the front page has a "local interest" story which is not of interest at all, like how some chain of stores that isn't in Ithaca is closing stores in other upstate towns a few hours away. I used to always buy the Journal the day after an election to see the local election results but now the Journal doesn't even update their web site until about 2pm the next day. The Journal used to send one of two reporters to every public meeting, now they send nobody.
The slack has been picked up by four civic-minded publications that are either weekly or online only: The Ithaca Times, The Ithaca Voice, 14850.com and Tompkins Weekly. All of them are free but advertising supported.
I'd say that the daily cadence makes no sense for a paper in a small town. Most days nothing really happens, but if something does happen, why wait? I think Ithaca is well-served in the new environment, but it is an unusual case since it has Cornell University and Ithaca College which bring in a large population of idealistic and underemployed people who can work on things like that.
Ithaca still has a daily paper, the Ithaca Journal but it's a joke. Sometimes the front page has a "local interest" story which is not of interest at all, like how some chain of stores that isn't in Ithaca is closing stores in other upstate towns a few hours away. I used to always buy the Journal the day after an election to see the local election results but now the Journal doesn't even update their web site until about 2pm the next day. The Journal used to send one of two reporters to every public meeting, now they send nobody.
The slack has been picked up by four civic-minded publications that are either weekly or online only: The Ithaca Times, The Ithaca Voice, 14850.com and Tompkins Weekly. All of them are free but advertising supported.
I'd say that the daily cadence makes no sense for a paper in a small town. Most days nothing really happens, but if something does happen, why wait? I think Ithaca is well-served in the new environment, but it is an unusual case since it has Cornell University and Ithaca College which bring in a large population of idealistic and underemployed people who can work on things like that.