The Local Rag

“The local paper . . . was meant to draw a picture of a physical community, with its customs, rituals, manners, lingo and collective memory inscribed in a thousand minute ways. Even if you get it only for the yard-sale ads or to hate-read the letters column, its presence itself is reassuring, part of the sometimes thin fabric that holds you and your neighbors together.”  

—Luc Sante, with photos by Christopher Payne, “The Daily Miracle: Finding Magic Inside the Times’s Printing Plant,” The New York Times, March 26, 2019.

• Editorial Comment: Hmmm. Fraying social cohesion and declining local newspaper readership. Hmmmm.

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