It’s no secret that print journalism is a dying industry. With the rise of the web and the increasing monopoly of nationally syndicated papers, the local paper is a reality in decline. Selfishly, this is terrible news. Thinking in terms of the big picture, it’s still terrible. Communities need to be informed about the going-ons in their own spaces as much as, if not more than, what’s going on across the country.
This is by no means a new story; it’s been a growing problem for years. According to the Associated Press, around 136 newspapers closed their doors in 2025, alongside similar numbers in 2024.In spite of this, I have some hope that The Record can serve as a balm for this problem. While it can’t do much to stop the privatization and corporate greed that go along with monopolies, I hope that it can show students, especially those who were never involved here, how important hearing local stories is.
As these trends continue, The Record remains committed to putting out a print newspaper in addition to digital news. As Isaac Sawatzky ’25 said, “Without the print Record you don’t have The Record.” As Goshen College continues to skew further towards digital over print, our staff at The Record continues to believe that there is unique value in physical media -— value that is worth preserving over time.
There is something special that happens when you sit down with a newspaper, hands open wide, that scrolling on your phone just can’t replicate. That doesn’t mean we won’t continue to make work accessible online, but we would encourage reading a physical Record to everyone who has access.
To students who have never worked at The Record, I don’t ask for gratitude for the work that we as a staff did all semester — we aren’t the important part. However, I would ask that you carry with you an appreciation for what The Record represents. How often did you open The Record on Thursday during lunch and learn something new? If I was a betting woman, I’d say that for anyone actually reading this editorial, the answer is yes nearly 100% of the time.
So, when you go out into the world and into new places, I encourage you to check out your local newspaper; seriously consider buying a subscription. If there isn’t a local news source, find out where you can get that kind of information, even if it’s just online. And if none of that is available to you, take a stand. Talk to your local government, find a community organization that cares — heck, start it yourself.
If we can’t bring ourselves to care enough about the places that we actually live, how can we claim to care about places far away? If you don’t know environmental destruction is coming down the road from you, how can you advocate on behalf of other countries’ forests? If you don’t care when your neighbors are arrested for crimes they didn’t commit, then how can you fight for the incarcerated who are states away? And if corporations gain total control over reporting on the truth, how can we possibly know who to trust?
