Brandy Ayers, journalist for 50 years, looks back and ahead – and sees a future for newspapers

Anniston Star Publisher H. Brandt Ayers, whom we know as "Brandy," is marking his 50th year in journalism with colums reflecting on the past, present and future of the craft and of his small daily newspaper, which has won far more than its share of awards and set an example for enlightened ownership. His latest piece touts the virtues of family-owned papers and their critical role in smaller towns and cities.

Ayers reminds readers that he is gradually transferring ownership of his Consolidated Publishing Co. to "a foundation that will preserve a community-owned and managed newspaper for as long as Fate and technology allow. The family paper, once the dominant form of ownership, is disappearing. There are fewer than 250 left out of roughly 1,500 dailies. Their disappearance is part of a vast and growing depersonalization of society."

Ayers says the difference between his paper and "a corporate chain paper" is that "a corporate publisher is a manager dangling at the end of a long corporate chain; he or she either doesn’t care or can’t act independently. I care, deeply. I was born here. The Star is a family legacy. . . . If we were gone, there’d be a near-total news blackout. Radio news is dead, Birmingham TV doesn’t cover us. We’re the only game in town. That is profoundly important because our society is becoming more isolated and depersonalized and suffers a deficit in leadership. The presidents of local banks were generals of a civic army; their officers and directors were the officer corps of that army. That army is gone, replaced by massive corporations who do not see or care about the civic health of a city."

Saying "Big-box stores aren’t gathering places that foster community," Ayers says the Star tries to fill the vacuum, "by using the new electronic press to allow mothers to chat with other mothers about their children and their lives, to offer each other encouragement and exchange pictures and tips," and by "reviving an intense form of local reporting" based in neighborhoods. He hopes readers will use the website "as a town square or back porch where people can drop by and pass the time of day about local affairs or cordially argue with each other."

For the community as a whole, the local paper is the only place "where 4-H Club winners can be seen by their parents and friends," and "As long as there are mothers to cry at their daughters’ weddings, as long as there are fathers to swell with pride at their sons’ exploits on the football field, as long as people fear crime, are suspicious of local politicians, cheer for the economic boost of a new industry, want to know what’s for sale at the mall or mourn the death of beloved citizens, as long as people want to share with others, there will be a need for someone to connect them." (Read more)