Magazine's demise ends a newspaper tradition

For those of us in the newspaper industry, this is a surprising day: Editor & Publisher, the industry's main newsmagazine, is being shut down.

I began reading it in my early journalistic days when I was a 16-year-old high school student. Back then there was usually a stack of E&Ps on a counter near the T-G's front door. I'd grab some of them to read while in the darkroom developing sports film (the "dark" room was only dark for a few seconds while the film was being transferred from one container to another. I don't miss film.)

I learned much about newspapers from E&P as well as reading newspapers from other cities, which carry as much fascination for me today as ever -- even more since newspapers now have web sites, video, etc.

In later years I subscribed to E&P.

But as the Internet matured I discovered the same information was available online for free, so I let my subscription lapse. I've had E&P's website bookmarked but rarely stopped by. Maybe I share a tiny portion of the blame for their demise.

I guess I'll miss E&P occasionally, just as I sometimes wish the Nashville Banner, which left us in 1998, was still around. I always thought the Banner was a better product than The Tennessean.

We in the industry occasionally hear gloom and doom predictions about newspapers. Let's just say there are quite a few of us around who embrace new technologies wholeheartedly while still seeing a real need for news printed with ink on paper as well.