The end of an era for real

I shouldn't be surprised any more when newspapers cut back or even go under (this week's item: the Globe has stopped printing daily classifieds -- no big loss). But this one hit me hard because it was the high point of my life in a lot of ways -- tons of fun and I did some good work there. I feel bad for the reporters and editors who worked there and I feel even worse for the readers, even though they may not feel so bad themselves, because now their elected officials, cops, etc. can operate on complete Blagojevich-like freedom. This is because there are NO newspapers (as in zero) covering a huge swath of Connecticut. In the late 1980s I'd cover a Board of Selectman meeting in Essex, Conn., and the reporters would outnumber the three selectmen: me from the Pictorial Gazette, one from the Hartford Courant, one from the Middletown Press and one (not always) from the New Haven Register. Now the P-G is gone and thr ethree dailies are shadows of their former selves from layoffs.

So long, Pictorial Gazette. I'll miss you (or at least what you used to be).