Greta Samwel: LOCAL COLUMN: The bedrock of American society - newspapers

Oct. 28—When Elon Musk was in college at Queen's University on the north shores of Lake Ontario near Toronto, he and his little brother Kimbal would read the paper together each morning.

One game they would play was to debate who was the most interesting person in the newspaper that day.

Maybe it would be a world leader. Maybe a state leader. Maybe it would be an entertainer or an activist — a student, an educator, a scientist or a local businessman.

In Walter Isaacson's recently released biography ELON MUSK Isaacson describes their drill, "the brothers developed a routine. They would read the newspaper and pick out the person they found most interesting. Elon was not one of those eager-beaver types who liked to attract and charm mentors, so the more gregarious Kimbal took the lead in cold-calling the person." Musk described the outcomes, "If we were able to get through on the phone, they usually would have lunch with us."

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE 1: SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSPAPER

Elon Musk is the world's richest man. Born with Asperger's syndrome, it affects his behavior and communication style. He was raised predominantly by his single mom with his brother and sister. Times of his life were spent with them living together in a one bedroom apartment.

Musk and his brother started a "city guide" software company Zip2 in 1995 subsequent to dropping his pursuit of a PhD at Stanford.

The brothers rented an office for their start-up company. With no money to rent an apartment the college dropouts slept on the office floor while showering at the local YMCA.

He sold the company to Compaq Computers less than four years later. His share of the proceeds were $22 million. He was 27 years old.

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE 2: READ THE PAPER WITH YOUR BROTHER/SISTER. WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN AFTER THAT?

Musk used his proceeds to buy the beginnings of PayPal later selling it to eBay in 2002. This transaction netted him over $200 million.

The rest is history. He has either started from scratch or bought SpaceX, StarLink, Tesla, Solar City, OpenAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company, Twitter and who knows what else.

Musk often combined an aspirational mission like the colonization of Mars or saving the planet from climate change with a practical business plan to pay for it.

For example Starlink, a satellite internet company he started, was one of his financial pathways to accomplish a broader aspirational goal of preserving humanity by inhabiting Mars.

SpaceX was his start up rocket company used as the vehicle to get his internet satellites into orbit.

Mr. Musk did some ciphering. He recognized providing internet service to paying customers was a large pot of gold.

At the time internet revenue was one trillion dollars a year. Musk pondered if they could get 3% of the business, that would net him $30 billion dollars. That's more than NASA's budget and more than enough seed money to fund his Mars aspirations.

So in a nutshell Musk's inspiration for Starlink and SpaceX was to fund getting to Mars. He summarizes his business plan by saying, "The lens of getting to Mars has motivated every SpaceX (Starlink) decision."

Do you know what else has been a motivator/inspiration in every Musk decision? Newspapers! At least those decisions in his early years. I don't know if Musk still reads newspapers. I would be disappointed to hear that he didn't. They played such a pivotal role in his road to the top.

An Oklahoman used newspapers on his road to the top, too. Our homestate's favorite trick roper/humorist Will Rogers famously said, "All I know is what I read in the newspapers."

Will parlayed his love of newspapers and roping into a magnificent vaudeville and movie career.

According to America Comes Alive, "Rogers was a huge consumer of current news, and his wife, Betty, suggested he weave into his roping act what he read each day in the news. It worked."

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE 3: SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE READ THE NEWSPAPER — TRY READING IT WITH YOUR SPOUSE.

I don't feel I am being too dramatic when I say local newspapers are the bedrock of American society. Why?

Local newspapers hold government accountable. They cover high school sports — even junior high sports! They showcase community events like festivals, live music, horse shows and school news. They weave together and beautifully blend all aspects of a community.

But there's a problem. News papers are under seige. Their numbers are dwindling to the point I think we should put them on the endangered species list.

Since 1990, the number of newspaper employees in the U.S. has plunged from 455,000 to fewer than 90,000, even as the population has increased by a third.

What's going to happen if we lose local newspapers? Will all we be left with is social media? There is a lot to be concerned with if this happens.

Recent studies show the majority of the American public gets its news from social media sites. Regrettably, they are often based more on unverified posts than facts according to CNHI.

"Unverified posts." Is that where we are headed with news dissemination?

Newspapers vet facts. They question authority. They hold us all accountable. They are the first rough draft of history.

Daniel Golden's essay in ProPublica, LOCAL NEWSPAPERS ARE VANISHING. HOW SHOULD WE REMEMBER THEM? indicts today's American society.

Mr. Golden states, "The damage wrought to communities by the diminishing of newspapers ranges from reduced civic engagement to the failure to hold corrupt or incompetent officials accountable. Amid a constant assault of dubious information on social media, people often know less, and consequently care less about their local government."

As a society I feel we need to start reading newspapers again — for our sake and their sake. By reading newspapers we provide them the revenue to do their job which benefits us all.

When we don't subscribe we choke newspapers of the resources necessary to investigate and report.

Local newspapers need reporter time and budgets to take a comprehensive look at the pros and cons of community issues. Instagram or Facebook don't do that.

Newspapers are vanishing. Many people perceive a decay in American society. Is that a coincidence?

According to Dr Suess: "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE 4: GET YOUR KIDS IN THE HABIT OF READING THE NEWSPAPER.

Turn this thing around. Don't leave it up to Facebook or whatever social media site to determine the news, the facts, the trajectory of American society.

If you are reading this I am probably preaching to the choir, but it's the holiday season — buy a gift subscription for someone. Do something.

Don't let newspapers drift into extinction without fighting the good fight!