We have come… very sadly… to the end of the Steuben Courier Advocate. Bath will be without a newspaper… THIS newspaper… for the first time in over 200 years. Since 1816. When James Madison was president.
Unfortunately it’s no surprise, for ALL papers have been struggling, and many, especially the smaller ones, have perished, leaving us all much poorer.
The paper started off as The Steuben and Allegany Patriot. America stopped at the Rocky Mountains, Texas and Florida were still Spanish. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were seven years old. Queen Victoria was not yet born. George III was still King of England, and Napoleon had just finished his first year of exile on St. Helena. Bath became a legally incorporated village in 1816, while pioneer prophetess Jemima Wilkinson still ruled her flock near Penn Yan. Mary Shelly created Frankenstein.
The Courier brought competition in 1843. Papers back then were politically affiliated, and the Courier became the Republican party paper, while the Advocate hustled for the Democrats. In 1958 the two merged as a general-interest newspaper, The Steuben Courier-Advocate. And, in 2022, it closed.
By 1958 the consensus was that newspapers should be neutral and objective, and that everything in them should be verified. There’s an old saying among reporters, “If your mother says she loves you, get confirmation from an independent source.”
Some say that neutrality and objectivity are impossible, so everybody should just put their cards on the table and report according to their biases. I see the point about impossibility, but I also see objectivity, neutrality, and confirmation as goals – things to strive and struggle for.
As papers have lost ground to TV, radio, and the Internet, moment-by-moment information is available. What’s been lost is the local reporter, schlepping out to zoning board meetings and other boring stuff.
Boring, but vital. The reporter learned the issues, and the regulations. He got to know the people. I’ve been a reporter in the Allentown PA area, in the Geneseo area, and here. I always figured that my job was to stand in for the citizens who couldn’t (or didn’t) make the meeting. And having me, or any other reporter in the room, week after week, reminded the officials that someone was watching.
Who’s watching now? And what does that mean when temptation comes in the official’s way, even if it’s “only” the temptation to be a little bit lazy?
The reporters are mostly gone now, even from the smaller daily papers, let alone the weeklies. Also gone are the snippets from the local libraries, churches, schools, clubs, and Scout troops. Yes, some of it’s available on line, but not all in one convenient package – not as a community. You’ve got to hunt and scrabble.
The world changes, and we are changed with it. There’s nothing sacred about the local paper, but there is something sacred about the job they do, assuming they’re not afraid to report the facts and let the chips fall. The Courier won’t be doing it any more, and some will no doubt say that Bath will be no worse once it’s gone. Maybe not. But I can say for sure, that it won’t be better.