Letters to the Editor: Democracy cannot survive without local newspapers. Lawmakers must act

To the editor: How sad that the Salinas Californian’s only sign of life is the paid obituaries that run in the Gannett-owned newspaper, which no longer employs any reporters.

The free press enabled Colonial radicals to a new form of government. Our republic’s founders were brilliant in including protection of freedom of the press. It was the only industry that they specifically protected in the Constitution. They knew this innovative government needed informed citizens.

When the Salinas Californian and hundreds of other newspapers stop providing local news, the American experiment comes closer to its end. In a time of new technology, we must find new ways to protect local newspapers.

One way is to tell California legislators to enact Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks’ (D-Oakland) California Journalism Preservation Act and members of Congress to enact the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022. We need foundations to support weak papers, a fund to provide free newspapers to students, and free tuition for journalism students.

Yes, democracy dies in darkness. We need a healthy press and informed citizens.

Lloyd A. Dent, Northridge

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To the editor: What a sad story about the demise of journalism at the Salinas Californian.

My family and I lived in Salinas in the late 1950s, and I delivered that paper to local residents Monday through Saturday (no Sunday paper was published). The paper was always easy to deliver from my canvas bags hooked on the handlebars of my bike and thrown from the sidewalk.

The only exception was the huge edition published when the rodeo was in town. For that, my dad and brothers had to help me fill several cardboard boxes. The paper had to be delivered to each porch by hand from the back of my dad’s station wagon.

It’s tough to lose something at the center of such a great memory.

Dave Schwien, Seal Beach