The Dearly Departed Daily: Detroit group to hold ‘wake’ for print journalism

Items like this keep my family from getting a meal on time some days.

A search for an update on citizens journalism at the Oakland Press uncovered the wake for "The Dearly Departed Daily" planned by a Detroit group. (The search was related to this post: Michigan media making news again)

Thanks to Elizabeth Voss, who wrote about the event on the Crain-powered Detroit Make It Here site, here's what I know now:

On April 23, one month after the announcement that Michigan would soon lose a major daily newspaper and three Booth Newspapers would trim the printing schedule to three days a week (and combine sections), the Women In Communications of Detroit group will host a wake.

Farewell Newsprint: Hello Digital Media
Women in Communications of Detroit will host Farewell Newsprint: Hello Digital Media at 6 p.m., April 23 at the Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby, 525 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit. The cost is $30 for Women in Communications and Society of Professional Journalists members and $35 for nonmembers. Movie fare appetizers are included. A cash bar and specialty coffees are available. Valet parking is $8 or next door surface lot parking is $6. Register by April 20 by online or e-mail at info@womcomdetroit.org or by phone at (248) 652-1460.

Jack Lessenberry, Metro Times columnist, a senior news analyst for Michigan Radio and journalism lecturer at Wayne State University. will lead the wake. He is quoted in the online article, saying he is worried that "people accustomed to getting a print newspaper won’t adjust well to the shift to three-day a week home delivery."

“The real issue is not whether print will survive as a news medium. The real issue is whether journalism keeps going. Thomas Jefferson said how can you possibly have a healthy democracy without journalism?”

After the wake, the event moves into a more positive direction, with Debora Scola, community affairs director for the Detroit Media Partnership, talking to the women’s professional group about changes the Detroit newspapers are making to compete in a digital era. The Detroit Free Press and The News reduced home delivery to three days a week and increased its focusing resources on digital media on Monday.


This first appeared on my Wired Journalists blog.