A week before Sparky and I decamped for Brazil, we joined friends planning a memorial service for a dear San Francisco friend who'd just died of cancer. I sat silently while the conversation turned to publishing his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle and his hometown Gannett paper, The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.At the risk of stating the obvious, newspapers have only driven readers further away by turning their obituary sections into profit centers. The Chronicle, I believe, charged well over $1,000 to publish his not-very-long obit in print.
Perhaps saddest of all about this conversation, my friends seemed resigned to the idea that newspapers would extract money from survivors when a loved one died. "They all do it now,'' one of them said.
When I started in the business in 1985 at The Pine Bluff Commercial in Arkansas, every reporter took turns writing obituaries, were published without charge. It was a terrific learning experience for a young journalist. You sure didn't want to make a mistake. You learned about interviewing under trying circumstances. And you helped solidify the paper's connection to the community.
There were surprises, too. I'll never forget the time a family member said they didn't want the surviving wife's name mentioned in a man's obit -- because she'd murdered him. I then had to explain that what had been an obituary had now become a news story.
[Image: this morning's News Journal, Newseum]
Does the NYT charge anything for obits?
ReplyDeletejim, sorry to hear about your friend, but gannett is for profit. Get over it! You want free, start a website for obits!
ReplyDeleteThats the problem with Gannett PROFIT They have forgotten all the long time employees from 30 and 40 years ofd service that became numbers instgead of individuals. Stick your profit and remember the loyal people
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