The Newton Tab and number of other papers owned by Gannett will stop publishing print editions in May. I’ve shared what little I know about it on the chamber’s website.
Newton Tab to stop printing
by Guest post by Greg Reibman | Mar 17, 2022 | Newton | 23 comments
Thanks, Greg. The demise of the Tab is a moment of little sadness for most of us who long ago stopped reading it. The event, though, is tragic in that it confirms our suspicions that local papers are no longer viable, financially or otherwise. The Tab’s lack of in-depth local reporting has appalled many of us for some time. In addition, almost all the op-ed pieces originate elsewhere and usually have little directly to do with Newton. I am proud to have been a minor part of the Newton Tab when it really did matter.
I remember when the Tab sports department had two superb reporters covering the local beat. Though they might have been underpaid, they were extremely dedicated. In response, I fed them as much detail as I could on the team that I coach, Newton South’s girls tennis team. That kind of connection between coaches and reporters has long since disappeared.
Is it possible that with funding, a group of people could create a true local newspaper, online or not, that carefully covers local stories, investigates local controversies, and holds the feet of the local officials to the fire? We can always hope.
Village 14 provides a forum for limited reporting and lots of debate, but the Garden City deserves a bona fide local newspaper. Could such an institution rise from the ashes of the moribund Newton Tab?
>Could such an institution rise from the ashes of the moribund Newton Tab?
Bob,
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing. Wish and hope it could in fact happen. I’m just not sure what that model might look like. I don’t pretend to understand the economics of what’s involved in this brand of journalism, but for most of the ’80s, it’s what I did for a living: I worked for a weekly paper, not unlike the TAB, covering several communities in Central Massachusetts.
It was an interesting time to be a reporter at such a paper, which was an entry-level position: You not only covered town news (selectmen, school committee, zoning board) and wrote local features but often did the lay-out and paste-up of the paper itself. I have only anecdotal evidence of this, but my sense a lot of these papers were going through a transition, where before they had relied on local correspondents — usually residents — to write the stories, which tended to be on the soft-and-fuzzy side, or else were dutiful rehashes of town government documents. Over time, these papers began to hire college grads who had majored in journalism or at least English, and who were not native to the area — none of my co-workers were.
These reporters went at the news in a more professional manner, doing stories that perhaps the papers wouldn’t have considered in an earlier age, like assessing local government’s ability at handling fiscal concerns or writing about environmental issues or other social concerns (like depression or teen violence). This sometimes rubbed long-time residents the wrong way: “Why don’t you do some good news for a change?” (who won the 4-H Fair top prize, for instance) was an often-heard comment.
The job was a real proving ground for a would-be journalist: It was the big world writ small, and if you could be fair, accurate and capable in covering town government and politics, while also being able to write human interest stories, then you had a shot at going to the next level.
But you couldn’t just mark time at the weekly. You really had to care about what you did. I don’t claim that my colleagues and I were perfect at what we did, but I know that we did care enough to do the best we could — not just because it would help us land our next job, but for the *sake* of doing the best we could. After all, if you didn’t, you’d hear about it from the guy who ran the vegetable stand that you saw every morning, or from customers at the local diner where you ate lunch.
Oy, I’m sorry to prattle on. I guess my point is, that world doesn’t exist anymore and hasn’t for a while (although I’m glad to say my former newspaper is still going, although it’s covering far fewer communities than before). I don’t doubt there are talented and hard-working young journalists out there, but they’re probably not doing jobs like my colleagues and I did. They may be working for several publications at once, or covering several communities instead of focusing on one or two. That kind of model would be better than nothing, but I don’t think it would be what Newton used to have, and is obviously missing.
Finally! so much less trash on our streets. Yes, it’s sad to lose our local news source, but the tab has not been anything like a news source for years.
Sad. I felt badly for Julie Cohen the moment she was put in charge of the Tab. It was essentially a one person operation and there was no way a single individual could manage a newspaper and produce articles at the same time. She tried her best under very trying circumstances, but it must have been horribly demoralizing. I once called some of her superiors to commend Julie for helping me submit an article about the Highlands Area Council. Two of them never returned or acknowledged my telephone calls. The one person I got through to really didn’t seem to care. Morale in the whole TAB operation must be rock bottom.
Last time I read the print Tab, maybe a year or two ago, they had posted the same exact article twice in one issue, one page apart. It made me very sad.
Well Mary, I guess they’ve figured out how to make sure that mistake doesn’t happen again.
The Tab is not dead…just going online only.
As a progressive community that touts the importance of saving the environment, and often complains about unread, unwanted papers at the end of their driveways, the move to digital only should only be met with applause
Hooray for progress!
@Matt: You may have missed the other part of the story, which is explained here.
Basically will we not have a printed paper but we don’t expect to have a dedicated Newton reporter anymore either.
@Matt – you’re right about on-line vs print. Unfortunately though a more accurate headline would have been “Gannett completes the gutting of local news coverage” …. and that is indeed bad news.
There are some other quite good on-line local news sites in some towns, that’s not what’s happening here though.
There’s nothing like sitting down with coffee and a newspaper in the morning. The Tab has, as others have noted, been deplete of local news for some time. There are no Letters to the Editor for weeks. If there’s a story you want reported on, I’ve been asked to write it myself and submit it. The Globe, even when it reports on Newton, doesn’t really have a handle on or connection to where the action really is – they contact the big names only – and so articles are inaccurate and omit the people who are often at the ground level of where the action is really — and then don’t get back to you to correct the story or enrich their understanding of the issue or topic.
Not sure if this is inevitable or not but it sure is sad.
Matt:
For many of the folks (like you in my opinion) who often challenge the status quo, having a viable local paper would have allowed you a better outlet for getting out your views. And if you want change, the Newton Tab used to pull serious weight in elections with their endorsements. I remember the days when candidates would slap a sticker saying “Endorsed by the Newton Tab” on all lawn signs magically overnight when they got the endorsement. And the incumbent often DIDN’T get the endorsement.
The Tab has been a shell of its former sense for a decade. But I used to read it weekly, and it got me much more aware of the city, its politics, and its people. I often don’t agree with Greg or Andy, but they were always thoughtful and clearly cared about our city.
I don’t particularly care about the modern day version of the Tab, which is Newton in name only, any more than I’d care about the coupon circular dropped off at my house every week. But I remember the old version and miss it. Don’t miss the bigger picture here.
This is too bad on a number of levels. I’m sorry for those who will lose employment because of these cutbacks. And studies have shown local governments spend at higher rates without the “watchdog” aspect of local newspapers to make sure things are running as efficiently as possible.
I delivered the News Tribune for three years in my youth. When Gail Spector hired me to draw the editorial cartoons for the TAB, my first meeting at their offices was with some fellow named Greg Reibman. While it wasn’t THE dream of mine coming true, it was definitely in the top five after so many years of being a fan of big-name newspaper cartoonists. Walking through a for-real newspaper office, and all the hustle and bustle, was intoxicating. I enjoyed that 11+ year gig.
I hope those affected by this land on their feet. And I wish for those toiling away in the new media that they find the same rush as I did being on the cutting edge of doing something meaningful and helping bring information and neighborhood opinions to folks.
Hi Mark – When Setti Warren was Newton’s Mayor, he briefly ran for U.S. Senate in 2012. His Senate campaign was unsuccessful and Setti decided to run for a second term as Newton’s mayor in 2013.
During Setti’s second campaign, the Tab ran a really funny cartoon, showing a tearful map of Newton sitting beside a contrite Setti on park bench and crying “But how, how can I ever trust you again?”
Did you do that cartoon? It was hysterical!
Hi Debra, Thanks for making my week! That was mine.
Thanks for the laugh!
Those curious as to “why” the decline of local newspapers.. blame Google and facebook.
Ad revenue has pretty much moved online to a point local newspapers cannot staff given declining revenue. Vicious cycle.
Not large enough to have subscribers (eg Boston Globe) and too small to scale.
No idea of solution how to bring back local reporting, other than local students.
ICYMI, this week is the last print edition of the Tab. There’s a rather pathetic one paragraph statement announcing as much. Get the print edition while you still can.
Next week will be the first time since April, 1882 that the print version of a Newton weekly newspaper will not be published. Chester A. Arthur was President and Newton was still a relatively small municipality. The Newton Public Library and the Internet Archives have kept copies of the old Newton Graphic on line from early 1886. This newspaper was really the glue that bound this city together. I wrote several letters to the Graphic’s editor over the years and virtually all of them got published. I knew that all my neighbors and friends around the City read them. You could reach virtually everyone here with one of three things or all three (1) Letter to the editor; (2) calling on the telephone because everyone still picked up the phone; (3) personal letter because people still opened and read all their mail.
good riddance to the waste of trees and plastic. I assume a fossil car circled newton every week for decades to deliver Ads with news articles attached to them.
Despite its diminished state in recent years, the loss of this local paper is a serious blow to holding elected officials accountable for their actions. There was a time when our local officials used to fear bad publicity. Now they don’t give two hoots.
In addition to everything else, The TAB didn’t even have a “dignified” death. No special commemorative edition, maybe with a feature like “The 10 Most Important Stories The TAB Covered,” or parting thoughts on Newton (past, present, future) by former TAB editors and writers — something you might want to actually save for posterity, and a reminder that Newton once had a vibrant local newspaper.
The current news “industry” does not want to remind anyone, much less posterity, that newspapers once tried to record what actually happened.
It’s pathetic really. They kept encouraging us to pay for the on line version, but they did almost to make us want to do so. This is no kick against Julie Cohen who did her best to keep things focused on Newton. I worked with her on two articles for the dying TAB and she was always helpful and professional. She politely recommended some changes to my original draft that greatly improved what I submitted. I hope she does well wherever she’s going next. She deserves it based on what she did with the precarious operation she was called on to manage.