Thanks to Readers

Today marks eight years since I retired from the Courier News.

Since then, four reporters have taken on the Plainfield beat and many, many changes have taken place in the newspaper business. Publishers have struggled to find the right “digital platform” while massive layoffs have affected the size and content of the print editions. Reporters are no longer tied to newsrooms, but can file electronically. In fact, some newspapers have sold off their buildings and set reporters loose in the field with laptops and cameras as mobile journalists, or “mojos.”

To save money, newspapers have regionalized production, circulation and even copy editing. Content comes not only from local reporting, but from citizen contributors and increasingly from wire services. Sometimes newspapers even swipe copy from the competition, as when the Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk reports news “according to mycentraljersey.com.”

Do I miss covering a municipal beat? Maybe, because since June 2005 I have been blogging about Plainfield, with an emphasis on City Hall and development. Over those years, a number of “hyperlocal” news sources have emerged, including the “Patch” outlets and the recently shuttered InJersey online project.

The newspaper world may have gone more and more digital, but one still has to take notes and sometimes only a pen and notebook will do. To mark this eight-year milestone, I used a PayPal account for donations to the blog to buy a bunch of fancy Japanese pens from JetPens. Sometimes the only fun involved in a five-hour City Council meeting is wielding a Pilot Hi-Tec-C or Coleto to record the gems of wisdom from elected officials.

Thanks to all my readers for past and present interest in my roles as newsgatherer. A writer wouldn’t be much without her readers.

--Bernice