In The Bee, you get the best of all worlds

Published online on Sunday, Apr. 08, 2007

The Bee's embrace of the Internet isn't sitting well with some longtime readers I've heard from lately.

"Why do you assume that all your subscribers have computers?" one wanted to know.

Another asked, "Do you believe in the printed page or not?"

I understand the frustration. If you're not online, you're bound to feel excluded at times, and to some older readers, every time we print a Web address, it's a betrayal by an old friend.

The irony is that the Internet is bringing back what many veteran newspaper readers hold dear -- a sense of community. I believe we finally have the means to deliver hometown, even neighborhood news in an urban environment. It's the answer to a dilemma that's bothered me for years.

Let me explain.

I grew up in a small town in Virginia with a weekly newspaper -- The Fauquier Democrat -- that I still read. I remember my mother reading the property transfers to see what people were paying for their houses. My brothers would look for their names in the sports pages. My friends and I would scour the marriage licenses, complete with ages of brides and grooms, trying to guess who had to get married (you can tell it was a long time ago).

These days, I get the Democrat online and I go straight to the obituaries, like the adults I used to laugh at. But I can also read about the Ruritans' ham and oyster dinner and which group of ladies spent a week in Colonial Williamsburg.

This is the paper where I started my career 27 years ago, covering misdemeanor hearings and town council meetings.

As I moved to bigger cities, I worked for papers with the resources to do more ambitious reporting. We could send reporters to Thailand and Armenia, but we couldn't always tell you why there was an ambulance on your street last night or whose child made the honor roll.

As papers get bigger, community news shrinks and with good reason. Newsprint is bulky and expensive, and if The Fresno Bee started printing the kind of news I read in my hometown weekly, we'd be the size of a phone book and probably bankrupt.

Now consider the Internet, with its limitless space. We have the ability to give you the news from around the world right down to your block. And you have the ability to share your own news. I believe we now have the best of all possible worlds.

A couple of weeks ago, we launched a new Web site, www.CentralValley.com. It was what we call a "soft launch," meaning we're starting off slowly, but the potential is immense and exciting. Just as small-town newspapers often depend on community correspondents to write in with news, this is a Web site for readers to contribute their own content. It's easy to do, and there's no need to convince an editor that your news deserves coverage. Just start typing.

Initially, a lot of the focus is on food. Readers have told us their favorite bakeries and where to get the best steak in town. But there's more.

Jimmy Bronson has started writing about deaf-related issues. Proud moms Susan Shuman and Sandra Klomp wrote about Clovis West High School's winter percussion ensemble, and included a picture of their kids and bandmates. Others have shared pictures of their vacations, children or pets.

You can start your own blog, talk in our forums or launch your own discussion group.

In other words, you decide what's important.

My answer to those who wonder if we've forsaken the printed page is, "no." We're still there on newsprint like we have been for 85 years. But there's so much more now for those like me, who never stopped craving hometown news. My advice is to get online. If you don't have a computer, go to the library or borrow your kids' laptop.

It will really take you back.