12 APRIL 5, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Stop the tariff and save the presses!
The United States, under the
leadership of a president whose
hatred of the free press is wellknown,
now seeks to impose a tariff
on Canadian newsprint that puts our
industry in even greater turmoil.
Our newspaper prints out of the New
York Daily News plant; the Daily News
aptly explained how damaging the
tariff would be in its March 30 editorial
titled, “Trump to papers: Drop dead.”
The newsprint rolls “started as Quebec
pine trees” grown “in managed
forests” before being harvested and
processed into paper. As the News
notes, “there isn’t nearly enough of the
stuff here in the U.S.; Canada has been
the source for decades.”
The tariff will undoubtedly force
the Daily News to spend more money
on the massive paper rolls. Those costs
will undoubtedly be passed down to us,
which will then force us and other media
outlets to pass down those higher
costs onto the consumers — advertisers
and readers alike.
We’re not just talking about The
Queens Courier or Ridgewood Times.
We’re talking about every Queens
newspaper, regardless of audience
or where they print. While we’ve
expanded our digital presence, the
printed newspaper remains the single
biggest source of our revenue because
the ad revenue for digital media has
yet to meet the value of print.
This tariff won’t save American jobs,
but it just might torpedo many local
newspapers.
The daily papers in our city have
reduced borough-wide coverage to
next to nothing. Local TV news can’t
reach communities with the occasional
three-minute segment. Community
newspapers like ours fi ll the void in
informing the borough of the issues
that matter to them: crime, education,
government policy, real estate, business,
etc.
Community newspapers also smash
the oh-so-pervasive rumor mill constantly
churning on social media,
presenting the facts as they are, as we
know them.
Only a well-informed electorate
can keep a democracy alive. Without
independent media sources to report,
to explain and to investigate public
policies, the people are left in the dark
about what their government is doing
— and those in power can do as they
wish with little fear of getting caught.
The Washington Post’s new motto
is indeed true: “Democracy dies in
darkness.”
Stacking yet another fi nancial burden
upon the newspaper industry isn’t
a way to “make America great again.”
It’s just another example of President
Trump’s utter contempt for the free
press, and for facts in general. We
must not allow this tariff to stand.
Call your local member of Congress
and New York’s senators, Charles
Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. Urge
them to take legislative action that
would stop this stupid, un-American
tariff from crippling our industry.
EDITORIAL
ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ROBERT POZARYCKI
Classifi ed Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classifi ed Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporter
RYAN KELLEY
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