About Us...
The Sylvania Herald is a weekly newspaper serving Sylvania for our 100th year. Our distribution is 12,500 and we cover over 90% of Sylvania. We are a mailed newspaper, arriving in 12,500 households in Sylvania every Thursday.
The Sylvania Herald has talented writers and photographers covering local sports, politics and community events.
Staff
Tyler Howard - Publisher
Anita Wilcox - Advertising
Paige Teets - Advertising
Writers
Christine Holliday, J. Patrick Eaken, Mike McHone, Myndi Milliken.
Photographers
TJ Irwin, John Pollock.
The following editorial best describes the present and the future of The Sylvania Herald.
Newspapers aren’t dying, they’re localizing
By Tyler Howard
Herald Publisher
12/31/08
Whenever I see a lead-in to a story on TV about the current state of newspapers, I cringe. I know what’s coming and I know it’s bleak. It’s no secret that on a national level, the outlook for newspapers is not so good. And I know when CNN is doing a piece on the future of newspapers they’ll parade out a series of pundits and journalists who will make bold apocalyptic statements about the future of the printed word. They use words like “dead” and “digital” a lot. They pull their iPhones or Blackberry’s out of their jacket pockets and refer to them as the singular device of the future.
And, in many ways, they’re right. But the one thing they continually fail to cite when predicting the imminent doom of newspapers is the power of community journalism. Because while newspapers are struggling in covering national and sometimes even state news as well as their television and internet counterparts, the one area where newspapers still hold an advantage is in local news.
And by local I mean local. Like, hyper-local. Newspapers are not dying, they’re localizing.
Because you can read about the various government bailouts in a thousand different places. And you’ve probably already heard that the Detroit Lions went 0-16. And my guess is you’ve seen some stories recently on TV about Israel and Hamas. You’ve been bombarded by state, national and international news a hundred times today before you even picked up this paper.
But where can you read about the Northview band? Or the Southview football team? How about the water that is coming from your tap? Or the new restaurant that just opened down the street? Or the heroic thing that your neighbor did? Or that kid in your school that is just so talented? The Sylvania Herald’s goal is to be the answer to all those questions on a weekly basis.
In these dire times for the printed word, the one thing that newspapers undoubtedly have going for them is their ability to be local. And in order to do that to its most effective point, they need the community’s help. They need the community’s voice. Collectively and via individual stories.
The Sylvania Herald has been and will continue to be a paper largely written by you—the community. In 2009, we want to encourage you to send us your voice even more than before; via email, fax, post, or walk-ins. If it’s about Sylvania, we want it.
Arthur Miller once said “A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.” In today’s world full of media outlets and infinite choices, his statement is no longer realistic on a national level.
But on a local level, in a community, his sentiment is spot-on. Consider the Sylvania Herald one of those crazy people you see in parks talking to themselves. We’re rambling away, and with your help, we won’t be shutting up any time soon.
So send in your stories. Polished or rough, lengthy or brief, if it provides fodder for Sylvania to have a discussion with itself—we want it.
