Aug5

rainbow cat.

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1941 newspaper rainbow cat breaking news

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oh, how I would love to write little articles like this in a community newspaper.

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when I first moved to Ann Arbor, we had a person who wrote a ‘local crime’ column

where they listed the week’s ‘crimes,’ such as:

– a robbery of a university student on the street of 2 pencils and $2.41

-a police call of someone possibly being attacked, but what turned out to be the screams of two people watching a horror film

the crime reporter would read the police blotter each week and report out, excellent work.

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in another community paper

in a tiny local town

I read ‘sandy’s corner’

where sandy would share her personal recipes

 the one I happened to read was for a

‘baked potato’

does not get any better than that.

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if I had to report on unusual pets such as the rainbow cat above, well…

the sky’s the limit!

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At the “Emerging Mind of Community Journalism” conference in Anniston, Ala., in 2006, participants created a list characterizing community journalism: community journalism is intimate, caring, and personal; it reflects the community and tells its stories; and it embraces a leadership role.

If you want more of a definition, I’m afraid it’s like when someone asked Louie Armstrong for a definition of jazz. The great Satchmo is reputed to have replied something like this: ‘Man, if you have to ask, it won’t do me any good to try to explain.’ You know community journalism when you see it; it is the heartbeat of American journalism, journalism in its natural state.” — Jock Lauterer

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56 responses »

  1. When a rainbow cat was big news, life had to be so much better. That said, we used to have a local paper newsletter in Beetley called The Beetley Buzz (until covid stopped hand deliveries) and one feature in 2018 was ‘Broken bottle found near childrens’ playground. This could have been dangerous!’ It went on to discuss this as an act of ‘outright vandalism’, adding that it ‘has been reported to the police as such’. That’s why we live in Beetley.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. I did the morning drive radio shift in Marshall, MI. 40 years ago and I had to not only read the school lunch menus, but at 9:30 every morning, I had to host Trading Post which was like a garage sale without the visuals. I would say, “Beth has two side chairs from an old kitchen set that belonged to her late grandmother. If you like metal frames with red and silver plastic seats and backs, call ### #### and be sure to tell Beth you heard about it on the Trading Post on W.E.L.L.” Followed, of course, by the Minister du jour offering a Morning Meditation.

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  9. This is adorable. I have nothing good to say about our local community paper — it’s filled with gossip and innuendo with a healthy dose of an attitude that things have steadily gone downhill as *they* (anyone who doesn’t claim Traditional Southern Values) have taken over. I wish we had a charming example like this instead.

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  16. Thank you for appreciating these community journalists. All of this seems lost to history now. In a nearby town, where I worked for a while as a news reporter, the editor wrote about town “crime” also, and it was hilarious. A lot of “dogs running at large.”

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  18. Around here, Next Door was sort of like a small town or neighborhood newspaper when it first started. But it quickly became a free online location for people to post their various tirades. Made me sad, because I never lived in a town small enough for a newspaper like you describe.

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  19. I doubt you remember this, but I once wrote a piece on my blog about reading the “crime report” for a tiny nearby community. The crimes were hysterical. I broke down laughing on live radio, reading a story about how a passerby jumped on a riding lawn mower and started mowing the woman’s yard. Despite her urgings to stop, he would not, and she called the police.

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