Comfort Food: Support Your Local NewspaperBy Carla J. Zambelli

As of this column, it’s a whole new local newspaper world out there on theMain Line. For me, this is bittersweet because although I am comforted as areader that many of the names and bylines of those whom I respect andknow will continue, on the other hand for so long our three local newspapershave greeted me every week, beginning on Wednesday evenings. It’s atradition that is not necessarily coming to an end, but it is changing. I am and always will be a fan of the physical newspaper. For me, there isnothing like a great cup of coffee and the crackle of the newspaper as youfold back the page. A friend recently and aptly described reading anewspaper as akin to comfort food. I agree, and although I like the ease of online reading for handy reference, I was one who purchased all three localpapers every week for years: Main Line Life, The Main Line Times, and TheSuburban and Wayne Times.Our local papers helped me find and develop my written voice (thank you Tom Murray), and in truth, local papers give all of us readers out there thatsame opportunity to be heard. That is a real gift in a world where much of what is important to us as individuals is drowned out by “the bigger picture”.Our local editors give us a lot. Do we ever say thank you enough to TomMurray and Susan Greenspon for what they do? They aren’t just our localeditors; they are our friends and neighbors. Can all of you out thereappreciate how easy it is to pick up the telephone and speak to Susan or Tom? Can you contemplate doing that with as much ease with editors of regional and major market national papers? I can’t.And what of the local reporters who bring our communities alive with news?Where would we be without the coverage of what is important to us? Wherewould we be without the reporting voices of Cheryl Allison, Sam Strike, RichIlgenfritz and Ryan Richards? They also help us find and keep our voices,bringing to light what is important to us locally on a consistent andthoughtful basis. When we go to meetings and events, they are right therealong side of us all, bearing witness to triumphs and tragedies equally.

What of the news photography of Jon Nimerfroh and Pete Bannan? Theycapture visually so much of our lives in our communities happy and sad, andeverything in between. From the Phanatic on Lancaster Avenue, to a highschool sports event, to the local faces caught on camera for whateverreason, or a sweet small owl, these are the photographs chronicling our dailylives.But the newspaper industry is changing, and it’s fighting this economy justlike the rest of us. With three local papers, while sentimentally people mightwant three papers, let’s get real: we want our local weekly papers to survive,right? Well for them that means pooling their resources and less of them.2009 means “And Then There Were Two.” The story of the year 2008 was the economy. A real tale of what happens tothe American dream when greed and avarice get in the way of All AmericanCommon Sense. So as 2009 gets broken in, we have an economy in atailspin. They finally call it recession, but since in reality the recession hasbeen going on for probably a couple of years in fits and starts, I think if wedon’t wake up, the Great Depression will be a cake walk by comparison. The economy undoubtedly played a part in the decision to merge Main LineLife and The Suburban and Wayne Times. You see, people should correctlyperceive our local newspapers as what they are no matter who owns them:local businesses. Local businesses only survive with our support. So inaddition to patronizing our local businesses in a tough economy, how aboutbuying the local papers more often? This new paper venture, fortunately for all of us, is a lot of what is familiarand respected being reworked and reintroduced in a sparkling new format. Ido, however, worry about things like the historic Suburban & Wayne Timesbuilding in the heart of Wayne.I would like to bring this column to a close by taking a moment to remembersome of the reporters, columnists, and editors who inspired and informed usfrom paper to paper over the years. Some of these folks are people I knew,and some were only familiar to me from years gone by and through thearchives of the local newspapers found in our libraries. People like WarrenPatton, Walt Hunter, Winnie Atterbury, Jim McCaffrey, Jean Molitor LaRouche,Emma C. Patterson, Helen Cooper, Jeff Cobb, Carol Creutzberg, Nancy Gould,and Tony Roberts. I will also miss from the current crop of those who have