The Developing News Desert

At one time we took for granted a daily newspaper would be delivered to our rural route

mailbox, except Sundays, of course. Our mailman announced his arrival on the gravel road with the sight of a big cloud of dust; with a long route, he wasted little time. The newspaper he brought provided entertainment and information for the whole family. Unfortunately, times changed and the daily presses cut back drastically. Now much of the news is delivered digitally  and if the person isn’t computer literate they are left to rely on radio or tv broadcasts.

Many times I have heard someone bemoan the fact of not being able to hold a daily

newspaper and read at their own pace. A newspaper left on the kitchen table could be picked up and reread later in the day. As for weeklies, counties have lost some local government and news coverage when a newspaper office has locked the doors and turned out the lights. 

We’re fortunate in Ransom County because two papers print with your choice of digital or paper on a weekly basis. Two counties in North Dakota, Slope and Sioux, have no newspaper, and twenty-seven counties have only one.

Through the years several newspapers in the county have been published. The first issue

appeared in Sheldon on February 25, 1885. Others followed including Lisbon, Enderlin, Elliott, and McLeod which have served a purpose of bringing news, entertainment, even gossip to an audience hungry for it. I’ve dipped into the archives to read some from each of them and found substance in all.

The term “news desert” enters the discussion. It is a community where residents are

losing access to important local news, announcements, and information that feed grassroots

democracy. But like Bob Dylan sings, “The times they are a’changing.” It wasn’t always this

way because there was a time when the number of newspapers grew prodigiously.

One good story illustrates this. The Northern Pacific rails reached Bismarck in the

summer of 1873. On June 5, 1873, a Washington hand-set press arrived on the first train to

Bismarck, Dakota Territory. The term “first train” is important. 

An enterprising journalist named Clement Lounsberry recognized budding town’s potential for a newspaper and wasted no time in establishing his operation, still printing as the Bismarck Tribune today. When the NP railroad reached Bismarck some notorious characters and establishments arrived, too. Lounsberry demonstrated his mettle as an editor through his editorials where he called for a “vigilance committee” to deal with the situation. A couple of the saloon owners took issue with his stance and came into his office brandishing pistols. Lounsberry, a Civil War veteran who fancied himself a “fighting editor,” challenged them to go ahead and shoot. He’d heard bullets fly before. The saloon keepers backed down but pleaded with him to ease up on his fiery writing. Many other examples of fighting editors can be related.

As the frontier spread westward people entered a news desert, but something was being

done about it. In the 19th century upwards of 10,000 small town newspapers came into existence to serve the communities. One portable device made it quite easy to do - the Washington Hand Press. Its dimensions were such that one could be loaded onto a wagon and carried wherever a would-be newsman wanted to set up shop.

It was just because of this Washington press that a great story came out of Yankton during

the early days of Dakota Territory. One had just been brought to town and set up when the new editor witnessed something which he wrote to preserve for history. A man had come flying through the window of the saloon across the street. The man was the recently deposed speaker of the house and had just experienced the wrath of the territory’s sergeant-at-arms. It was important to know that our early territorial government did not come without problems.

Growth of many newspapers came with the government land grant received by the

railroad. The company could now build towns and sell farm land between Fargo and Bismarck. As new towns formed, newspaper presses arrived. My map dated 1889 shows numerous little towns that came into existence between Fargo and Bismarck. Without doing the research for numbers, it’s a good bet most of them printed a newspaper.

I’ve volunteered a few times at the historic Hunter Times newspaper office when West

Fargo’s Bonanzaville opens the doors for its 4th of July celebration. My humble role is usually that of greeter, but I’m always fascinated watching the old presses in action. The pressmen demonstrate their dying craft with pride.

The retired editor from The Emmons County Record has taken preservation of historical

printing processes seriously. He promoted the creation of a printing press museum full of old

equipment which is oiled up and demonstrated on occasion. Found at Braddock, North Dakota, where even though it’s in an unfrequented area, draws interest, especially so during Braddock’s team threshers reunion. The NDSU Press takes journalism students there as well to acquaint them with the machines and the process of putting out papers “the old way.”

We’ve moved on from the old system that served us well and have entered computerized

printing. The old presses have gone silent. On the national scene we all read the same

homogenized news filtered through a few outlets. Only the most discriminating reader takes the time to search for accurate reporting. The question arises: what impact does all this have on independent thought.