ABSTRACT
The empty desks strewn throughout the newsroom were tombstone reminders of what once was in American journalism. In a 2015 interview, Erica Smith admitted that 'newspaper depression' was just part of it. Coupled with the 'Great Recession' of the mid-2000s, the veteran newspaper journalist was expensive and, ultimately, expendable. By 2014, the number of newspaper journalists had dropped to about 37, 0005,000 fewer than in 1978, according to the American Society of News Editors. Newspapers informed the voters about elected officials, tax spending, bond issues, and crime. Newspapers were the guardians of the community. The local paper carried gravitas when it backed a political candidate or printed a full-page American flag on Memorial Day or rallied around the high school football team. Kiyoshi Martinez's final job in a newsroom was as a Web editor for 22nd Century Media, publishers of more than a dozen hyper-local weekly newspapers.
