Mark Cromer on Matt Pearce

I entered the newsroom during the twilight of the Reagan Administration and spent a couple of decades writing from both staff and freelance positions at afternoon dailies (remember those?), morning dailies, weeklies, bi-weeklies, broadsheets and tabloids and at major metros, strong regionals and small locals and the glories of print newspaper reporting will simply never be replicated online. All of that is to say: organic reporting reaching a real readership and delivering a meaningful impact seems well within reach if publishers rediscover the promise of the newsprint medium. It doesn't need to be 'reimagined,' merely revitalized and pursued vigorously as a long-term investment. I pay top dollar to read The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal at my breakfast table each morning because I enjoy the read, the tactile experience and the complete absence of intrusive pop-ups and all with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that what stories I am choosing to focus on is unknown to anyone else other than my wife, who I occasionally disturb with a 'Jesus, honey, listen to this...' The groundwork for a rebirth of print news reporting has already been established.