Metropolitan vs. Community

I think the big boys are struggling because they aren't focused enough. Since their audience is so big, they have to cover lots of different issues, and they don't have enough specific information to hold the reader's attention. On the other hand, the little guys can tailor their articles to their audiences a lot more easily and most have been around long enough to gain a pretty substantial fan base. Back home, the furthermost part of the county is an island that includes two little towns called Carolina Beach and Kure Beach. The Island Gazette is the island's little local newspaper, completely written, edited, distributed, and managed by members of the towns. I had the opportunity to write a couple articles for them Senior year, the people were so nice and laid-back (yay for living at the beach!), and I found them much easier to get along with than the people from the city newspaper, StarNews. The city paper isn't even that widely circulated and they had this air of arrogance and supremacy! After my brief newspaper stint, I decided that the smaller the paper, the nicer the people and the easier it is to make your stories fit your audience. Big papers don't get points in the personality department, but definitely cover more issues. A balanced diet of big time and small stuff news seems to be the most beneficial, so it's up to you to decide which lucky newspapers will be your source of current world happenings. Happy reading!

-Jenn