Note: We dropped 15,000 newspapers at five different post offices around town on March 6, 2024. Best one we’ve ever done. Here’s my column from that newspaper … to introduce us to folks who might not have yet seen our website. You are reading this, so you are ahead of them.
What is this and why am I reading?
This is a quarterly newspaper, published by Knox TN Today Inc. to show off some of the best recent writing from our website, www.KnoxTNToday.com/.
Writers are veteran reporters; folks who love Knoxville, Tennessee, and also love to write:
- Sandra Clark is former owner/publisher of the Halls Shopper and was elected District 16 state representative 1972-76.
- Susan Espiritu is a former teacher and principal in Knox County Schools who took early retirement to care for her husband, Charlie.
- Beth Kinnane is a former Knoxville Journal reporter; a Central High School and UT graduate with deep roots in Fountain City.
- Marvin West retired at the top of Scripps Howard News Service; he graduated from Powell High and UT and now lives on the lake in Union County.
- Tom King was a sports writer at the News Sentinel who advanced to edit two daily newspapers in the Scripps chain. He lives in Farragut.
- Betty Bean recently retired, but drops in with a column from time-to-time. She lives in North Hills.
- Carol Springer is behind the scenes, holding it together with graphics, accounting and whatever it takes.
Don’t ask our average age.
The challenge
Producing local news in the digital age is the next step. Remember riding the Epcot sphere at Disney World? The ride climbs slowly upward. Early communication involves drawing with charred wood on the walls of caves. The ride speeds up a bit with the invention of the printing press. And then the ride descends, gaining speed (or seeming to) with the invention of the home computer, the internet and more.
This is where reporting/ storytelling are in 2024. Technology makes it clean and inexpensive to do this work – no more ink, dead trees, delivery house-to-house. Technology also makes it hard to be seen and heard. It’s a blur out there in the land of dancing pixels.
What an exciting time to live. And what a challenge to match wits with some of the smartest (and dumbest) folks on earth.
This newspaper is your invitation to join us online daily M-F for the next episode of Codgers vs. Pixels: Survivor 2024.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.