Saying goodbye to the weekday print edition of the Democrat and Chronicle

Posted by [email protected] | Oct 13, 2019 | Talker of the Town | 0 |

David Kramer holding the ever vanishing Speaking Out section of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 1/5/19. From The D & C does not publish our letter on its sexist use of language

10/12/19

For reasons big and small, I finally unsubscribed to the weekday print edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (while maintaining my weekend subscription.) First, I realized that the D & C charges nearly twice as much for its much smaller print newspaper than does The New York Times (which I will never read on kindle). While I like supporting local professional journalism, that price was too steep.¹

Second, recently the D & C lost two of its finest writers, Erica Bryant and David Andreatta, and we are still awaiting their replacements. Third, the D & C recently added an e-edition. I realized I most relied on the print edition for its SPORTS ON TV feature that did not previously appear in the digital edition. This feature saves much time scanning the MENU on the tv itself in search of a game. Now, the e-edition means I don’t need the print version.

Fourth — and most importantly — as seen in The D & C does not publish our letter on its sexist use of language, recently the D & C drastically downsized its SPEAKING OUT and OPINION sections that now only appear on the weekends and also eliminated cyberquotes and blogatorials. Those sections foster lively community discussions and drew me to the full week of print.

I keep the weekend subscription partially to promote the work of George Cassidy Payne whose Guest Columns and Letters to the Editor are frequently published. Talker readers know that many of George’s essays first appear in the magazine. Reworked versions then appear in the D & C.

Yesterday, the D & C published “Journey to impeachment shows values: Treatment of migrants was morally just as bad.” George’s essays often elicit robust conversation and dissenting views in the magazine and have attracted D & C letters to the editor both pro and con. Below are George’s Guest Columns since 2018 with accompanying links where applicable.

¹ In a recent conversation on WXXI’s Connections, Evan Dawson interviewed David Andreatta as Andreatta was transitioning from the D & C to the CITY newspaper. Dawson told listeners if they could afford a subscription to the D & C they should do so. Dawson’s words triggered my guilt when considering cancellation of the weekday print edition. The (overpriced) subscription helps subsidize investigative news reporting that I wholly value. But — I rationalized — the price was too high especially given the reduction of my favorite sections. I wish I had answers for saving the D & C, but don’t.

2/7/21, Democrat and Chronicle, SPEAKING OUT

See Police Use of Pepper Spray on Child Reflects a Communal Failure

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, SPEAKING OUT, Sunday, 11/22/20. See Responsibility after Trump

See Responsibility after Trump

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 10/25/20.

2/9/20

10/12/19

Sat, Aug 31, 2019 · Page A17

Sat, Jul 20, 2019 · Page A17

SEE Detention Centers are Part of America’s Dark History

08 Jun 2019, Sat • Page A18

Sat, Jun 15, 2019 · Page A17

SEE Mueller’s Report … at Least What We Know of It … Does Not Reflect Trump’s Real Obstructions of Justice

Sat, Feb 02, 2019 · Page A14

Sat, Feb 16, 2019 · Page A13

SEE Want to Make America Great Again? Respect Contributions of Native Americans

Sat, Nov 03, 2018 · Page A17

11/10/18

SEE Nationalism and its contradictions

Sat, Sep 08, 2018 · Page A14

SEE Why Rochester Should Bring Back the Fast Ferry

Sat, Jun 02, 2018 · Page A17

Sat, Mar 17, 2018 · Page A17

SEE Alternate pronouns won’t collapse language system

Sat, Jan 20, 2018 · Page A15

SEE Nonviolence Education is Needed on MLK Day

(l-r) David Kramer, Valeria Chomsky, Noam Chomsky at the Eisenberg Rotunda, Schlegel Hall, University of Rochester [Photo: Leslie Kramer 4/21/16]

Boxes upon boxes of Rochester newspaper history

Courtesy of the Rochester Public Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division

Democrat and Chronicle 2018: Endings, with no Signs of Beginnings

Frank Gannett’s gravesite, Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY, 12/31/18. [Photo: David Kramer]

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.