Community newspapers are struggling, but without them, communities would suffer also, The Times owner Charles Hill Morris Jr. told Hall County business leaders Thursday, Nov. 15.

“If we can’t figure this out, we sitting in this room are going to have a lot larger problem than just here in Hall County,” he said, speaker at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce’s monthly board of directors meeting.

“We’re going to have a national crisis.”

Morris showed a 2 ½-minute video with the message that the communities need professional journalists to hold public officials accountable. Without them, the only source of news would be untrained observers, including bloggers “with an agenda.”

Community journalism has faced challenges for more than a decade, including social media’s rise in popularity, the 2007-09 Great Recession and a sharp decline in advertising revenue.

That has forced some dire consequences, including newspaper journalist jobs being cut by 45 percent between 2008 and 2017.

In Georgia, 40 papers have closed in the last 14 years and a total 28 Georgia counties “have no dedicated newspaper.”

“Why is that a problem?” Morris said. “That is a news desert. The stuff that goes on in those communities (isn’t reported) unless someone comes in and covers it from the outside.”

Locally, the impact has been The Times deciding to no longer print Monday or Tuesday editions, moving to a five-day-per-week print cycle, and scaling back on wire coverage.

Otherwise, the paper will continue to be produced and posted digitally seven days a week.

“We’re going to be working hard to make additional investments in news and adding additional news content,” Morris said.

To survive, newspapers have had to diversify.

In The Times’ case, the paper is involved in several enterprises, including publishing magazines, full service direct mailing and printing services.

The paper also has announced it would discontinue the free distribution publication Lanier Life at the end of November.

“We are making some big changes and ask our readers and advertising partners to be patient as we work through the hundreds of details,” Morris has said.

“We plan to be as transparent as possible with all of our customers as we go through this process. This is the community’s most established and credible news source; those we serve in all capacities deserve to know what is going on with ‘their’ newspaper.”