My how newspapers have changed

By Ben Hillyer (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, October 23, 2009

Martha Langdon was the first person to teach me how to read a newspaper.

As a hyperactive ninth grader, I had no clue there was only one way to read the news. I was used to grabbing hold of the sports section each morning as my mother pored over the front page, opening the pages to the comics sections and spreading them out on the den carpet. I would kneel in my pajamas and catch the latest antics of Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes and Snoopy.

According to Mrs. Langdon, spreading the newspaper across every available surface is definitely not the correct way to read a newspaper.

“Take the newspaper and fold it vertically in half,” Mrs. Langdon said as she picked up the well-worn visual aid she had used to teach every class that came through her door.

“Then fold it in half horizontally and then start with the top, right-hand corner of the front page,” she said, carefully watching each student follow her every move.

Each morning in her class would be spent reading the day’s newspaper using the prescribed choreographed routine — one based in tradition I would soon discover in humanities and current events class. The top story was always placed in the farthest upper, right-hand column because newspapers used to appear on newsstands folded and displayed with their top right-hand quarter showing. The lead story was put in that corner to entice readers.

“You don’t have to read every story, but you check them all,” Mrs. Langdon cautioned because you never know which story will most affect your life.

Mrs. Langdon’s teachings were based in a time when reading the newspaper was a time-honored tradition of most Americans. Whether you were commuting to work on the train or just trying to catch up on the news at the breakfast table, the newspaper was your connection to what was happening in the world.

It still is.

Times have changed and many of those traditions in the newspaper world have disappeared. No longer is the lead story in the top right-hand corner. In the world of the Internet and television, the news comes in all shapes and sizes. Even so, the newspaper still keeps the community informed about what is happening in the community.

You can still get your news every morning spread across large sheets of paper. More and more, however, the news is coming in different forms more suited to today’s fast-paced world.

You just have to look at the last decade to see how the face of news has changed. Before 1999, The Natchez Democrat spent 135 years putting ink to paper to get the news in the hands of its readers. As the Internet grew in popularity, the newspaper responded by not only putting the news on your doorstep, but your computer screen as well. At one time the paper offered a stripped-down version for handheld devices like the Palm Pilot.

In recent years, we have given readers even more ways to get their news. Two years ago we offered a new Web site with expanded new stories, photos and video. Just two-months ago we started delivering e-mail editions of the morning newspaper to reader inboxes.

In the coming months we will be offering even more ways for readers to get there news — including a new mobile edition for your smart phone.

One thing is for sure, Mrs. Langdon’s insistence that there is only one way to read the newspaper has come and gone.

Ben Hillyer is the Web editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or by e-mail at ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.