The most recent Community Buzz hosted by The Newtown Bee took place November 22. Periodically, residents are invited to gather and share insights on a topic relevant to the community. To be considered for an upcoming Community Buzz, contact editor@thebee.com, subject line Community Buzz, and include your full name, any areas of interest, availability, and daytime contact information.

“I want to hear what different parts of the community are thinking about a particular topic,” The Newtown Bee Editor Nancy K. Crevier said, to start off the recent discussion. Participants were asked, “What do you see as the role of community newspapers today?”

Residents who volunteered to take part in the conversation sat around a table at the Newtown Community Center. Jay Mattegat, Lynn Hungaski, Katherine Dahlem, Jan Lee Brookes, Jill LeBlanc, Robert LaPorta, Alan Martin, and Betsy Litt took part. Some are relatively new residents, and others have lived in town for decades and represent generations of Newtown resident.

Referring to a recent report by Pen America called “Losing the News: The Decimation of Local News and the Search for Solutions,” Ms Dahlem said she was struck by all the things local newspapers cover, from emergencies, public safety concerns, health and welfare, education, the environment, the civic life, and the political life. Different constituents, she said, find different things important. In places where there is no local news, important things go uninvestigated.

“We never know what we don’t know,” said Ms Dahlem, adding that The Newtown Bee is a substantial newspaper that does a good job at covering those topics. Later she added, “You look at what is happening in other places that are losing their newspapers, and it’s like social media and other things are just jumping in. That leads to such polarization.”

Ms Litt said there has been “such an attack on journalism” and a “substantial percentage of the population don’t trust mainstream media, don’t trust print media.

“I think that people trust local news in a different way because they know the people and they can so easily kind of check the facts,” said Ms Litt. “... So I am hoping that local news, print, and media, can help restore faith in journalism.”

Reflecting that larger papers used to have more local coverage, Mr Martin said The Newtown Bee still sends journalists to local meetings, like the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, of which he is vice chair.

Seeing The Newtown Bee’s reporters at local board and committee meetings stuck out to both Mr Martin and Mr Mattegat. One suggestion that came up was to have a Bee reporter attend every meeting and make stories more personal.

Mr Martin said he always brings a newspaper with him to read at appointments, where he knows he will spend a lot of time waiting. It’s rare that others are reading a paper, added.

Discussion also touched on coverage The Newtown Bee gives to student life, whether in the Education or Sports sections or elsewhere. That coverage, Ms Brookes said, shows students a positive reflection of what they can be in the community.

Ms Crevier asked what The Newtown Bee could do to draw more subscribers and where the Community Buzz participants get most of their news.

While the Community Buzz participants all said they read the newspaper, some said they know people who have canceled subscriptions and only get news available online.

Suggestions included offering online subscriptions or ways to donate to the paper.

Mr LaPorta said people are used to not paying for the paper and getting free information. That is something to think about, he said, when focusing on ways to get revenue from a phone version or tablet version.

When Mr Martin first moved to Newtown he said he received a “Welcome Wagon” that included a copy of The Newtown Bee. It could be a helpful way to reach new residents to send a free copy to everyone who moves to town.

“The thought of Newtown without the connecting threads that The Newtown Bee offers just makes me sad,” Ms Brookes said, reflecting on the larger disappearance of local news. “... I wouldn’t want to see us focused on national news for lots of reasons.”

If local newspapers switch to being nonprofit and therefor rely on subscriptions, the group said keeping donations anonymous would be the best way to go, to keep the reporting unbiased.

The next Community Buzz discussion is being planned for February. The Community Buzz is intended for participants ages 16 and over.