Before I start this editorial I will acknowledge my obvious bias. Since my childhood, both of my parents have worked for The State newspaper in Columbia.

So I love newspapers. To me they are just as essential to every morning as coffee and a shower. The problem is that newspapers, as almost anyone can tell you, are failing and closing. The reasons for these closings seem legitimate. Newspapers cost money and the economy has been down. On top of that we all have access to free news on the Internet.

It’s possible that there were too many papers at some point, but the ones that are left should be valued, and read. No one needs to save The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. These papers will always have readership. But local papers are even more important.

A local paper keeps you involved in the place where you live. The reason that the Internet cannot take the place of these papers is because the Internet makes you want to leave where you are.

You will always be caught up in what is going on thousands of miles from where you are on the Internet. It can make you forget that you should be happy to be right where you are every day. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal is a work of art every day, every two weeks the Old Gold and Black chronicles the great stories that are going on around us every day at Wofford. Every print newspaper has a beginning and an end, and a finite amount of space.

Everything in the paper is there because it was high quality enough to make the cut. You can spend hours and hours on the Internet reading different things with no chance of seeing the end. The wonder that the next thing you find might be just as interesting is a curse more than a blessing, and it makes it impossible to find satisfaction in the world of Internet news.

When we stop reading newspapers this coverage will not be replaced. The Internet is about volume rather than quality, and local news doesn’t generate the type of volume that can produce enough Internet ad money. The sad truth is that in the case of news, you get what you pay for, and free news is more about tricking you into visiting a website than starting an intelligent conversation.

When I have a permanent address, one of the first things I will do is subscribe to the local paper. The small price is well worth supporting such an important part of our society, and in the end the benefit is far greater than the cost.