Paper provided a tangible window of learning each morning

LETTERS — The Armchair Mayor welcomes letters to the editor on issues. Here are two on the death of the Kamloops Daily News, one from Gina Morris and one from Steve Krueger.

When visiting my husband’s family in England, where a visitor can find a nation of readers, the newspaper is much more than the news. It is, especially in the case of the Sunday morning paper, like a weekly opportunity to feel a child’s Christmas morning excitement with the elements of an Easter egg hunt rolled into it. Strange as this might sound, my husband recounts the trading of newspaper sections between family members through a lazy Sunday morning that was, and still is today, a family tradition. The mammoth bundle of media is much anticipated, as there’s something for everyone, and you never know what exciting things you’ll find.

Growing up, I remember how Kamloops Daily News stories and information about opportunities for community involvement were topics of discussion at the dinner table. Family conversations then and now were, and often have been, inspired by learning of the triumphs and struggles that happen here. The stories mean something because they belong to all of us, and in many ways, the fabric of our community starts with “family conversation.” Many people my age, growing up before the internet was in full swing, would happily remember that the paper was also the source for weekly TV listings and for movies showing at the theatre. But perhaps most importantly, the paper provided the “funnies” and especially, colour cartoons on the weekends.

At about age eight, I remember collecting “Broom Hilda”. I loved cutting out these weekly treasures and carefully placing them in a thin folder. Now, my 8 year old daughter also takes interest in the cartoons, both the “funnies” and, often enough, the “political” cartoons as well. She asks questions and wonders about the implications of the large headed, wide-smiling or furrowed-browed and sometimes bulging-eyed comical depictions of politicians. She also excitedly reads headings of stories, looking carefully at pictures about things that are happening in our community and around the world. As a parent who wants to promote a love of reading, I know that…

…there is something about a daily and tangible window of learning that comes with the morning newspaper lying on the breakfast table. Children will read with excitement when they can relate to the information being shared – and community news gives us this.

As a grown-up, I take joy in the paper giving me a little bit of that feeling of embarking on an Easter egg hunt – what will I find today? And there is something about actually unfolding and discovering, with newspaper in hand, that scrolling down an Internet page doesn’t really do for me.

When I learned the paper was closing, my immediate thought was how can we save the paper? Could we find out how much readership is needed to keep it going and ask people to recognize that, as much as we give to the United Way, the Food Bank and the community Boys and Girls Club, we need to subscribe to keep the fabric of our community alive? Hey, that could have been the slogan: Subscribe – keep community alive! Kamloops community has rallied around people and organizations in need – but news of the closure has come swiftly so there has been little time to step past the shock of it to do anything at all.

I know times are changing, and though I can keep up with it, I lament what the changes mean to who we are as people and how we relate to, and connect with one another. As Mel Rothenburger suggests, sometimes the daily news comes across our kitchen table telling us things we might not have wanted to know; and often enough, it’s presented in a way in which we might not agree, but still it gives us an opportunity to grow – to see another point of view, to wonder about the feelings of others who, if it were not for that news story, we would know nothing about. I will miss my daughter’s curiosity and laughter and concerned comments and questions about things she discovered by turning the pages of the morning paper. Thank you Kamloops Daily News.

GINA MORRIS

Kamloops

I know all about the economics of it but the decision to shutter the Daily News saddens me nonetheless. While I spent most of my career on the electronic side of journalism, in my heart I was (and always will be) a print reporter.

Although now retired, I worry about how society will be a little less complete without the printed news. That medium has always been the most accessible to the public and has always been the best “exchange” of ideas through solid reporting, letters, columns and posted comments.

I take solace in the fact that people like us did the best we could to keep the public informed, and we did a pretty damned good job of it.

STEVE KRUEGER

Sentinel 1969-72, NL Radio 1972-73