Watching the last of our nation's hometown newspapers fade into the past has been difficult for me.
I was the editor of a slew of local weekly newspapers over two decades.
From being the editor (early 1980s) of The Desert Trail in 29 Palms, California, to being a publisher of a group of weekly newspapers in northern California, I lived in small tightly knit communities.
Part of my job was becoming part of the community and getting involved in organizations like Rotary, Historical Societies and local government.
One thing that was universal during those decades was people loved their local newspaper and it was a central part of the community. Readers trusted their paper.
Those days are rapidly coming to an end. Groups of newspapers have gobbled up most of the beloved hometown publications. The internet has also contributed to the decline of local journalism.
Readers who once couldn't wait to read about their neighbors and local news, now turn to social media platforms that polarizes neighbors.
Rural communities are losing their peaceful identities and morphing into hotspots for extremists.
It's difficult watching those 100-year-old plus newspapers recede into history. I realize now what an honor it was working for those small hometown newspapers.
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