Until something better comes along: Easy Reader has a new website

by Kevin Cody

I’ve published Easy Reader for over 50 years. It’s fun. A reporter friend described reporting as “play with purpose.”

I bike to the end of the Hermosa pier and photograph people fishing. I talk to people along the way, and then write about whether to save the pier, or let it crumble into the sea. 

A convention in reporting is stories don’t end with conclusions. At least they shouldn’t. As “Dragnet’s” Sergeant Joe Friday put it, “All we want are the facts, ma’am. Just give us the facts.”

It’s up to readers to decide the fate of the Hermosa pier. The reporter’s job stops at giving readers a heads up about its condition.

Here’s another heads up. Like the Hermosa pier, Easy Reader is crumbling into the sea. Over one-third of California’s newspapers have shut down since 2005, leaving swaths of “news deserts” across the state.

Legacy industries swept away by the digital revolution are typically replaced by something better. Cell phones, streaming services, GPS navigation, and digital cameras are improvements. 

Social media, which is sweeping away newspapers, is a more popular source of news than newspapers. But reels are not better than the reporting they replace.

Two decades after its introduction, social media reporting is still dismissed as “doom scrolling.” And even before it can find its footing, it’s being swept away by AI “slop.” 

What frustrates newspaper publishers is the demand for responsible reporting is as strong as ever. But if responsible reporting is subject to supply and demand, that economic law is taking so long to assert itself that newspapers, like record companies before them, are failing before finding a new revenue source. 

How long is Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong willing to lose $50 million a year; or besieged Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos willing to lose $100 million a year.    

It doesn’t take a weather man to know which way the wind’s blowing.

This week Easy Reader is debuting a new, paywall website, designed to be reader, as well as  advertiser supported. 

Ask AI about newspaper paywalls and you’ll learn they usually fail. A notable exception is the New York Times, which has flipped its revenue from 80% print advertising/20% digital subscription to 80% digital subscription/20% print advertising.

Easy Reader aspires to follow the New York Times model for both responsible journalism, and reader support.

The beach city piers are over 100 years old. Residents can walk out a few hundred yards, past the surfers to where the fishermen are, and look back at their town. So far, nothing better’s come along.

Newspapers are like piers. 

Subscribe, at least until something better comes along.

Digital subscriptions at EasyReaderNews.com are $9.99/month. Or mail $100 for a one year digital subscription to Easy Reader, 67-14th Street, Hermosa Beach, Ca. 90254. ER