Memphis’s primary local newspaper, the Commercial Appeal, will no longer be printed here in Memphis, Tennessee, starting with the April 18th edition. This marks the first time since the Civil War that the paper hasn’t been printed in its home city. This means the end of jobs for 19 people who work at the production plant downtown.
As we all know, the newspaper industry is faltering. Information consumption via the internet quickly took over in the past 20 years as a primary way many people keep up with current events. Newpapers and other periodicals have been dying out in mass, and this is just yet another phase of this. This is being done, of course, to cut costs associated with production of the paper, and makes perfect sense, but is still one of those things that just, for many people locally, feels odd – the Memphis newspaper isn’t going to be made in Memphis anymore.
The paper will now be printed in Jackson, Tennessee, at a modern facility that already prints another paper. This of course means the paper will need to be shipped 80 miles into the city for distribution, and as such will need to be produced earlier than it already has been to make it to doors and stores on time.
I’ve seen comments on posts relating to this where people are complaining that local sport events that go into overtime might not end before the next days issue needs to begin printing, which is rather hilarious to think that you can’t just check any given place on the internet for that oh-so-critical information. Honestly that very complaint proves the reason periodicals are dying out – access to instant information via the internet is simply superior to the “gold old fashioned” newspaper. A newspaper has to be finalized and printed up, resulting in papers acting more as a recap of the past day or so, rather than acting as an as-it-happens news source like TV and now websites can.
Of course, people like instant information these days, so it really makes sense, as mentioned above, that periodicals of all types are dying out.
“The CA” as some of us locally know it, will continue to be printed for the foreseeable, sure, but it does feel odd, almost feels like a part of the city is dying (symbolically anyway) to know that it won’t be printed here anymore. I found it odd enough to write about, and clearly others care, so, well, it is what it is, and to many of us, it’s something worth thinking about.
Kind of symbolic of the city in a way, if you think about it.