To the editor,
I recently heard about and read with dismay the article announcing that the office of the Pine Journal in Cloquet will close as of Jan. 19.
As the editor of the Pine Journal in 2007, we fought to move into that office space on Avenue C. We fought for it in part to have a street-front presence instead of a more hidden-away space in a mall after we were forced to move from our prominent space on Cloquet Avenue.
While I am aware that a publication can be put out from anywhere, I'm also aware that a community loses something big when it loses a newspaper office that is the symbol of its voice.
Maybe I'm the only one left who looks for the newspaper building whenever I visit a town. It's not only a sign of community health, but a sign that democracy is still at work.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pushing reporters to work outside the city and county they cover, or even into their own homes or coffee shops in that community, after the newspaper had a presence in Cloquet for over a century, is a blow to that community.
Would citizens in Duluth or Superior accept this idea? I'm not sure Cloquet should accept it, especially when rent in that office space has not increased since I helped move in over a decade ago.
Please reconsider.
Lisa Baumann
Seattle
Pine Journal editor, 2007-2010