“Newspapers are pointless.” “Reading from a paper makes no sense in a digitalizing world.” “Newspapers have no future.”

Comments like these have become normal in today’s society. The once booming field of newspapers is seemingly crashing down right above us.

Growing up, I have always been surrounded by newspapers. My parents would read them every Sunday while they drank their coffee.

My family had subscriptions to a local paper as well as The Wall Street Journal. While the media has continued to get bigger and bigger, my parents never unsubscribed from the papers.

When asked in one of my courses whose families still had paper subscriptions, a shockingly low number of students raised their hands.

Our professor, Dr. Rupprecht, encouraged us to subscribe to a newspaper once we obtain a steady job. She explained that this would not only support journalism as a whole, but it would help papers to keep their doors open.

This suggestion nudged me to consider my own news intake. I realized that I do not pay for any of my news.

I have an app on my phone that allows me one free article each day. I am able to visit websites to do my own research after hearing headlines.

While these are both informative to me, a lack of subscription to any given source is negatively impacting the industry.

While facing adversity, local and bigger newspapers have not lost their influence. The biggest television news channels cite newspapers daily.

They get their information from these established and credible papers. This has grown into an issue because the online ads now get more attention than the printed ads.

With less demand for printed ads, newspapers have lost a substantial pool of their income. The once fruitful industry has become nearly profitless.

With more and more local papers calling it quits, various areas are becoming essentially newsless. Without access to everyday information, many things slip through the cracks. For example, these areas remain unaware if there is an issue with their leadership.

They don’t know what is going on at events such as school board meetings or town halls. Further, this makes communities extremely vulnerable to both misinformation and disinformation.

One of the possible solutions to help newspapers continue operating is for more everyday people to purchase subscriptions to newspapers.

When we don’t pay for our news, we are feeding the decline in the industry. Another solution is bigger companies and individuals buying local papers.

This would allow newspapers to be taken care of. They could maintain employees and expenses without fear of having to fold.

One solution that I think could save the newspapers is proposing the idea of having them be considered a public need.

The government on a local and national level could pay the fees and fund employees.

I believe that putting tax dollars towards newspapers would be beneficial to society as a whole.

While this may not seem ideal given that many stories cover politics and the government, I think that maintaining outside leadership and simply funneling government funds into the industry would help get the papers back on their feet.

A project like this would allow newspapers to function as best they can. It would keep the public informed and up-to-date while minimizing both misinformation and disinformation.