I'd say it most certainly killed the sort of dedicated small print classified ad publications you'd find at store checkout counters. But maybe those small pubs like The Want Advertiser (in Boston) were few and far between.

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sitkack 6 days ago | parent [-]

These things were everywhere, my hometown of 20k had TWO papers, one was a weekly and the town next door had one. And then even in a big city, you would have neighborhood level papers with a little news, some ads, etc.

They are all gone. Many of them folding before the internet became popular.

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bluGill 6 days ago | parent [-]

I with I had a local newspaper. I don't have time to attend my city meetings what with raising my kids, and even if i did make time school board and library board meetings are often the same night so I can't attend them all. The city minutes are published - debated [some obscure issue] before voting to pass 3-2. Nothing more like what positions were debated who supported it or why/why not. So I have no clue on if I should reelect anyone or not. Similiar for all the other meetings, I need a summory of the detail that I can't get.

there is the msa level papers but they don't get local enough. There is county today which publishes the minutes but not the important details. Real reporting is important and I can't find it for local issues. Anyone can report on national issues and I can still find that, but not local.

	▲	ghaff 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		My town had a "labor of love" local paper but the publisher became ill. These days, unless something happens to pop up on Facebook or my neighbor, who is more plugged in than I, tells me, I basically have no idea of local news.