Charles Smith – 9/15/13

This page was last updated on September 17, 2013.

Obituaries are not news items; Charles Smith; Beaver County Times; September 15, 2013.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I am in complete agreement with Margaret Sheerbaum’s letter about obituaries that ran in Friday’s Times. We have family members out-of-state who use the Internet to obtain this information. Since we pay for obituaries, why should we pay again to read them? Obituaries are not news items, they are informational for the community. For some, they are the only way of knowing when friends and/or acquaintances have passed away. If they don’t subscribe to your paper or subscribe to your website they are unable to obtain this information. This action on your part shows us a lack of concern for the community!”

[RWC] As you can see above, this is at least the second letter on this topic.

What did people do before the BCT had a website? Say someone who pays to have an obituary published doesn’t have Internet access. Should they get free copies of the obit section of the BCT print edition? Remember, the BCT is a business, not a community bulletin board or the private-sector equivalent of a town crier. The BCT makes some of its money reporting news and, contrary to Mr. Dickson’s opinion, a person’s death is a “news item.” That someone pays a media outlet to publish an obit doesn’t change that fact. Why should any business be expected to give away a product/service? If a business chooses to give away some of its work product, fine. A business should not be bashed, however, simply for wanting to be paid for its products and services.