As technology continues to improve and change the way we all live our lives, there are a number of industries doing all it can to change with the times. The newspaper is one of those businesses, and in the North Country, one local paper has found a unique way to ensure it can continue to do what it has for more than 160 years.
Almost everyday, Alec Johnson and Gary Valik, two of the top executives with the family-owned Watertown Daily Times newspaper, inspect the day’s edition. It’s something the Johnson family has done since the 1860’s.
“There’s a lot of different versions of the Times over time. It started as a weekly and switched to a daily at the start of the Civil War because of the need for daily news,” Johnson said.
In the 165 years since, the Watertown Daily Times has become the largest paper north of Syracuse — reaching the highest of highs in the industry and surviving through the struggles many papers face today.
“We’ve evolved through pretty much every national and international conflict and in the last year the pandemic was an interesting, but challenging and exciting year for us because it did force us to think a little bit outside of the box,” Johnson added.
The truth is, papers have had to start thinking that way well before anyone knew what COVID was. People have access to the latest news, breaking news, in their pockets, 24-7.
Newspapers have added apps and websites, but the physical papers have, in a way, become yesterday’s news. With a decline in readers, some papers have had to cut back, while others have had to shutdown. The cost of printing has often become too much, especially for smaller papers.
“I never want to see a paper of any size go out of business because of costs,” Johnson said of the industry.
So for Johnson, the thinking outside the box, actually very much involves the box it’s currently in.
It was back in 1986 when the Watertown Daily Times was standing at the height of business. The Johnson’s invested into a massive printing press and it now also has another one in its Massena building.
The capabilities were endless with the machines, and an idea was born: what if the Times offered it’s printing capabilities to small papers in the region?
The Times can make money and at the same time, the smaller papers save it.
“From small weeklies to monthlies, to flyers and everything in between to help support news reporting, it’s a win-win for everyone,” Johnson said.
The Watertown Daily Times now prints for more than 60 outside sources. For any person, and industry, that still very much believes in the importance of holding a newspaper in your hands — the paper is the "book to breaking news."
“Print is the final draft per say,” Johnson said.
It’s ideas like this that are indeed supporting local news reporting, but in the grand scheme, it’s so much more.
“It’s cool to be part of something like this, full-time, getting paid to do it and living out the dream I’ve had since I was what, 14 and a freshman in high school,” Ben Grieco, sports editor of the Oswego Pall-Times said.
In a follow up story, Brian will introduce us to Ben Grieco, a recent college graduate — and sports editor for the Oswego Pall-Times. It’s a job he may never have gotten, if it wasn’t for what the Watertown Daily Times printing his college newspaper.
Read Part 2 of this two-part series on the Watertown Daily Times printing press, here.