News-media roundup: Presses dwindle; why the Kansas raid was unusual; family-owned daily marks 175 years

"Many residents in rural areas with poor internet access still rely on printed papers for local news." So says the American Press Institiute, painting with a broad and somewhat loose brush in noting the Medill Local News Initiative's report on press closures. Mark Caro pegs his piece to the shutdown of the press at Gannett Co.'s Pueblo Chieftain, first noted here last month, and examines the lack of any newspaper press in Vermont. Presses have been shutting down all over for decades, largely due to ownership consolidation, leading to earlier deadlines, changed publication schedules, longer drives, higher costs and a few newspaper closures. Anna Brugmann, policy director for the Rebulld Local News Coalition, told Caro that rural publishers discuss the need for “a runway” to transition to digital, but “Chopping off the runway altogether means the plane runs aground.”

Why is a police raid on a newspaper in Kansas so unusual? asks The Associated Press. David Bauder and Jim Salter write, "It’s very rare. . . . Police have confiscated material at newspapers, but usually because they are seeking evidence to help investigate someone else’s crime, not a crime the journalists were allegedly involved in, said Clay Calvert, an expert on First Amendment law at the American Enterprise Institute. . . . The Marion raid 'appears to have violated federal law, the First Amendment, and basic human decency,' said Seth Stern, advocacy director for the Freedom of the Press Foundation. 'Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.'"

"One of the oldest newspapers still owned by the same family" celebrates its 175th anniversary in Celina, Ohio, this month. "The Daily Standard and the genealogy of the Snyder family are, for all intents and purposes, one and the same. That makes this newspaper both a cherished family heirloom and a critical public trust," the paper says. "The family watched as corporations gutted newsrooms and cut back on local news coverage in pursuit of higher profits and the adverse effects these moves had on the communities they served. . . . It's a tough fight for a family-owned newspaper to stay afloat in a world where people expect free news content on the internet, but one worth waging to keep residents informed of happenings in their local governments, schools and communities."

Still native, but not only American: "The Native American Journalists Association announced Friday it is changing its name to the Indigenous Journalists Association in an effort to become more inclusive and strengthen ties with Indigenous journalists worldwide," AP reports. The change was announced at the group's annual conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after members voted 89-55 in favor of it. "About 400 Indigenous members were eligible to vote."