The news was inevitable, but still sad.

We learned yesterday that the weekly Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier will no longer be printed and now accessible only in digital form, online.

This is just part of a global trend in the newspaper industry. Let’s face facts. The cost of printing and distribution are significant.

But while technology marches onward, there are still many painful consequences. Nearly 50 employees got layoff notices yesterday from the Courier’s parent company, the Maine Trust for Local News.

Regardless of how you feel about evolving technology, we are entering an era that is making human workers more irrelevant with each passing day.

It’s not just newspapers. There are no more phone books. No more encyclopedia salesmen. EZ Pass reduces the need for human toll booth workers. Self-checkout at the grocery store, shopping online and using ATM cards are all part of the equation.

For older people who may be a bit skittish about apps, streaming television and AI (artificial intelligence), many of these changes (advancements?) are uncomfortable, if not downright terrifying.

When my children were growing up, I often told them: “Your environment does not adapt to you. You must adapt to your environment.” It’s a matter of survival.

Video Killed the Radio Star

I have written several columns about the media, advancing technology and consumer trends when it comes to news distribution, including this rather recent post: Pour Some Sugar on Me

But this latest news about the Courier leaves me feeling a bit nostalgic and a bit sad.

I am personally connected to this story nine ways from Sunday.

Let’s backup for a second. For more than 50 years, newspapers have been part of my life, first as a paperboy for the York County Coast Star, the Journal Tribune and the Portland Press Herald.

I dreaded Sundays because the weight of those Maine Sunday Telegram issues were more than twice as thick as their daily counterparts and quite heavy. I had to break my route up on Sundays simply because I could not fit all of the papers into my over-the-shoulder sack.

Even as a young boy, I had a fascination with news and politics. In high school, I even landed a short gig as an intern in the Journal Tribune’s newsroom.

Over the years, I wrote for a few different publications, but it was the Courier where I made my mark.

It was the Courier that launched my connection to the same exact communities where I grew up. The Courier became my life. Had I not been the Courier’s editor for a few years, I would not have met my wife.

Today, I own and operate an online-only “newspaper.”

I was lucky enough to work for the Courier back in the good ol’ days, when the paper was still locally owned and operated.

I very much doubt that the Courier’s current owners have even visited Biddeford, but still, they have the audacity to promote the paper by describing its coverage as “hyper-local.”

Ummm . . . not really hyper-local . . . . whatever that is supposed to mean.

It’s been a long time since I have seen a Courier reporter cover City Hall. I did not see a reporter from the Courier at this year’s Winterfest festival.

When Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman scheduled a community event to support the family of a fallen police officer, the Courier was not there to cover it, but did publish a story a few days later. Liz Gotthelf from Saco Bay News was there. I was there, representing the Biddeford Gazette but that was it for media coverage during the actual event.

Make no mistake. It’s not the reporter’s fault. It is a situation playing out in newsrooms all over the country, where ad revenue trumps news coverage.

I Want To Be Sedated

Sydney Richelieu is today the primary reporter for the Courier. Her editors expect her to cover six communities every single week. Think about that for a minute.

Richelieu is responsible for covering news in Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. I don’t care who you are or how hard you work, that beat is a really big nut to crack.

Consider this. When I left the Courier in 2006, we had four full-time reporters (including me) covering the same geographic area.

Today, the Maine Trust for Local News expects one reporter to cover the same beat that was previously covered by four reporters. The Maine Trust for Local News has set Sydney up for failure even before she inherited the beat last year.

The folks at the Maine Trust for Local News love to bloviate about their dedication to “local journalism,” but maybe they should put some of their money into the newsroom, you know? Local journalism?

The Courier and the Portland Press Herald are both owned and operated by the same company, so don’t expect the state’s largest daily newspaper to step in and fill in the cracks. The way they see it, Biddeford and Saco are already covered.

Newspapers – including both tabs (tabloids) and broadsheets — are printed in four-page increments. In order to cover costs, roughly 60 percent of the newspaper needs to be covered by paid advertisements.

When I left the Courier, we were consistently publishing 44-page papers. Today, the Courier is merely a shadow of itself, hovering around 16 pages (not including advertising inserts).

I’ll close with some good news for the Courier. This move by their parent company removes their handcuffs of being published just once a week. Now they can more effectively compete with the other digital publications in this area, Saco Bay News and the Biddeford Gazette.

Being online allows journalists to be nimbler, to be in a better position to scoop some breaking news. Something that hasn’t happened at the Courier in a long time.

As a Biddeford resident who appreciates and values local news from a variety of sources, I hope that this recent transition returns the Courier to its rightful position as a competitive, local news source.

We’ll see.

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