It’s not about paper, it’s about the news

It was a Saturday evening – March 12, 2016 – and I was with a group of people – co-workers, friends, family and members of the community. We were all there to witness a moment of history.

By Lisa Chappell, TPA president 2025-26

We stood in the pressroom watching the Sunday paper whiz through each unit. The floor below us vibrating, the deafening sounds of the press, the smell of ink. Things all too familiar and usually exciting to watch.

On this day, however, the excitement was replaced by sadness as we witnessed the very last run of the press in Greenville, Texas.

Shutting the pressroom down was not a decision made lightly.

It was not a popular decision and understandably so. People lost their jobs. The community thought it was the beginning of the end of their local newspaper. Employees now had earlier deadlines. It was all so frustrating.

It was a tough time but it was a move that kept us on solid financial footing for our future.

You get that. We all get it. We understand why most of us no longer print our own newspapers. But it feels like it’s all happening at such a rapid pace.

We know print is not the most popular choice any longer. We just are not sure we like it. I mean, we are in the print business after all, right? Is that true? No, it’s not. We are in the news business and that means adapting to however people want to consume their news.

One of the recent email chains in our TPA publisher’s group was started by a newspaper in need of help. The pressroom that printed their paper and others was shutting down. Not much notice was given and they needed to find a printer quickly.

The trick was finding a press within a reasonable drive time. The question is, what is the definition of reasonable? What was once a reasonable drive/delivery time was somewhere you could drop pages close to midnight and they still make the dock or post office in time to deliver by morning. 

Today, “reasonable” has a completely different expectation. Some of my papers now travel more than four and half hours from pressroom to post office. 

When newspapers throughout TPA saw the predicament their fellow newspaper was in, many responded with options to help. It is wonderful to see newspaper people come together to help.

I wonder, is it fewer print facilities that will force our hand to move into a digital-only space? Maybe. Or is it the demand of our audience? Either way, we have to think and plan beyond today. If we are going to thrive as the chosen news source in our communities, we have to move forward as if the future is here now. 

What is that future?

I don’t know, but we must be ready to embrace it, however it looks. We are here to serve our communities with local news. How it’s delivered shouldn’t matter. After all, our goal is not to just survive but to thrive for many years to come. 

Don’t be defeated by the obstacles you face today. Be determined by your will to succeed.