Once upon a time (a couple of weeks ago) there was a newspaper columnist who suggested ‘Let Newspaper Chains Die.’ Let’s take a quick look at the consequences just in the past few days had anyone listened to his advice: 1/ https://twitter.com/klr_editor/status/1244736576590172161

In Florida, we likely wouldn’t know what we DO now know — and WILL know — about the spiraling #coronavirus crisis in senior-living sites. Because . @miamiherald — backed by its owner @mcclatchy — is suing for public records: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241942211.html 2/

Oh, and tonight Florida’s governor is deploying the state’s National Guard to surge testing in nursing homes to combat the viral ‘nightmare.’ So, it seems those records should see the light of public scrutiny. (Cc: @benyt) 3/

Nor would we have the complete record of Kansas weekend facedown between the Democratic Governor and Republican legislators decided by the state Supreme Court to back stay-at-home rules on religious services. That’s due to @mcclatchy’s @Kansasdotcom and @KCStar on the beat 4/

Again, in Kansas, we would have missed @KCStar’s award winning series on America’s broken foster-care system ‘Throwaway Kids,’ and its earlier series ‘Why So Secret Kansas?’ on state legislative secrecy, or dozens of other national investigations 5/

And, the crimes of serial sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein? Had it not been for the perseverance of @miamiherald investigative team lead by @jkbjournalist Julie Brown and her colleagues @EmilyMichot and @caseyfrank1 #PerversionOfJustice 5/X. Yeah, that was @mcclatchy too. 6/

I could go on about the coverage from these newsrooms and the 28 other news organizations around America from Charlotte’s @theobserver to Sacramento @sacbee_news to Biloxi’s @sunherald that together make @mcclatchy 7/

We could talk about @FresnoBee’s education lab. Or @CompassLocal w/ partners @GoogleNewsInit in Ohio. But: We have a deadline. Being #Essential in our communities. Connecting our advertising customers to their customers at a time of this great need in our communities. 8/

So. It’s facile to be a naysayer. But the crucial distinction isn’t between ‘chains’ or single-proprietor or not-for-profit: what’s important is being #Essential. If you are, and if you can, support your local news provider whether it’s @mcclatchy or someone else. #ReadLocal

We all need more local news. #SubscribeLocal Cc: @dangillmor @Sulliview @jeffjarvis @JimFriedlich @brianstelter @BGrueskin