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thesy lvaniatimes. com
The Sylvania Times
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 - Page 3
From the
Editor’s Desk
Joe Brady
Editor
This past week I was
reminded of a trip I
took several years ago.
I say several years
ago because it’s been
about that long since
I have had a vacation.
Not to mention this
was pre- garmin,
tomtom or whatever
that navigation thing is
in new cars. But that’s
another story. Anyway,
the last vacation I
was on was a trip to
Chattanooga.
These days we travel by interstate everywhere we go.
Whereas interstates save time they aren’t big on scenery
and when I am going on vacation, I want to take my
time and see the sights in small towns. So, searching the
internet looking for an alternative route was a chore, let
me tell you. Did we pull up the old country back roads
because you can’t get to Chattanooga without going
through Atlanta!
Then it dawned on me, a road atlas. Now ask a kid today
what a road atlas is and they’ll probably stare at you with
a blank look clouding their eyes. Kind of like when you
hand them a rotary phone. But I’m from the old school, I
took geography in school. I even had a friend who was a
cartographer.
The only place I could find a road atlas was my insurance
agent and Lenny had to reach way back in the dark
recesses of a storage closet to get a State Farm Road Atlas.
Geesh, people really don’t use maps any longer. But with
the map in hand, I painstakingly mapped out my route to
Chattanooga. It would take me like three days to get there
but at least I was avoiding Atlanta and seeing small town
America as well.
As we headed for the open road, the atlas highlighting our
route, I thought I had mastered my navigation abilities.
I began predicting the twists and turns we had to make.
Gosh, this map reading was fun! But after two hours of
navigating, I began suffering from mass confusion and
suddenly we were hopelessly lost somewhere between
Greenville and Chattanooga. Every turn we made was
a wrong one and exasperated I threw up my hands in
despair.
Suddenly I was asked the question, “How far are we from
Chattanooga?” Now, why would anybody pose a question
like that to me when I was obviously having a meltdown.
My response, as I looked anxiously for the mileage on the
small lines dotting the map, was simply this as I looked
up, took off my reading glasses and spread my thumb
and index fingers two inches apart, “about that far.”
Needless to say, I didn’t navigate on the trip home. Not all
technology is good, navigation in the car is. Happy Fourth
of July! That’s all for now, take care!
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As the weeks rolled on
into November, the time
sink was taking its toll on
the internees at Lawton.
Fixed dates aren’t used
at this point by most of
the POW diaries, with a
few exceptions, making
tracking the day-to-day
occurrences and events
from the historical
record slightly difficult.
Sometimes, the events
described are close enough
to indicate clearly that
POWs are talking about
the same day: most of
the diaries that were not
published after the war,
the bone and meat of the
historian’s diet, are banal
and regular. They record
the weather, the rations,
and occasionally hopes
for home. Thoughts are
fragmented, short, and
Unearthing Camp Lawton
Dr. Ryan McNutt, Ph.D, FSAScot, R.P.A.
“Tunnelling for survival, marching to the sea”
only a sentence or two in
length, sometimes with
no context for intrusive
thoughts. ‘Cold morning,
and colder night. Wood
running low for fires.
Commeal damp, and
portions moldy.’ Or
‘Leaves will have turned
at home. Wonder if she’s
married by now?’ We
know where home was
in this case, but not who
‘she’ was, or if she was
married. Internal reflection
headed towards the cliff
of nostalgia, and the
rocks of depression and
hopelessness spiked the
ground at its base. Other
POWs, however, were still
engaged in action—men
were still entering the
camp from Sherman’s
amiy, caught up in the
pursuit of Hood’s mad
drive into Tennessee, and
battles and skirmishes
along Sherman’s supply
lines into Atlanta.
On November 8th, Robert
Knox Sneden details some
this action still taking
place: a consortium of
20 POWs decided to try
again to tunnel to their
freedom. According to
Sneden, they’d covered
at least thirty or more
feet in one night, striking
the foundations of the
stockade at daylight.
However, this success was
short lived. By November
the 10th, the tunnel
location had been betrayed
to the guards. . . or the
tunnellers just weren’t as
covert as they’d thought.
Confederate sergeants
were inside the stockade,
sounding the gap between
stockade and deadline
with prybars for a hollow.
The entrance meanwhile
was hidden, the shebang
it had been under broken
down and moved, and
no one knew anything
about who lived there,
or a tunnel, or even that
there had been a shelter
there when the guards
began asking questions.
While almost none of
the escape attempts were
ever successful— out of
45,000 POWs who passed
through Andersonville,
for example, only about
25 POWs escaped to
safety—the success of the
venture was less important
than the act of trying. The
depression from ‘hope
deferred’, disease, and
SEE LAWTON
page 6
Local news is being threatened
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act can save it
Dean Ridings.
CEO, America’s Newspapers
Thomas Jefferson famously declared, “Were it left to me to decide whether
we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a
government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Jefferson knew that local papers were vital to a thriving democracy, and that
notion is as true today as it was at our nation’s beginning. Americans know it, too.
They trust their local news outlets, even in this highly fractured and partisan time.
Compared to national news, six in 10 Americans have more trust in local news to
report on stories that affect their daily lives, and they are about twice as likely to
trust local news to report on the information they need to vote.
Despite our trust in local news, too many communities today are hurtling towards
Jefferson’s worst fear, but in a way he never could have imagined. About two
newspapers have been closing every week since 2005. Instead of the government stifling journalism, local papers are
steadily being shuttered due to the unchecked influence of two private entities: Google and Facebook.
The main challenge for small news publishers is that Google and Facebook have hindered local outlets’ ability to be
fairly compensated for the significant value their content generates for these platforms. Big Tech has commoditized
and disconnected news content from its sources, undermining the advertising business that served as a bedrock of the
newspaper industry. Big Tech platforms control virtually every aspect of the online advertising business and use clever
tactics to keep users on their sites and deprive publishers of the ability to monetize their content.
Faced with this anticompetitive behavior, it should be no surprise that local papers are struggling. In 2022, more than
a fifth of Americans live in news deserts. And, 1,625 counties have only one newspaper, while more than 200 have no
local newspaper at all. Social media is increasingly filling the void with untrustworthy sources and misinformation and
becoming America’s de facto local news source.
Big Tech’s threat to local journalism will not go away on its own, and the cost of inaction is too great to ignore. Congress
must act.
Among the antitrust bills Congress is considering this year, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is
the only one that provides a direct check against Google and Facebook’s anticompetitive tactics that put local papers at
risk.
Ironically, Big Tech is protected by U.S. antitrust laws, which prevent local papers from negotiating as a group. The
JCPA would provide a temporary, limited antitrust safe harbor for small, local news publishers to collectively negotiate
with Facebook and Google for fair compensation for the use of their content. It’s narrowly tailored to ensure that
coordination by news publishers is only in the interest of protecting trustworthy, quality journalism.
Critics of the JCPA have parroted Big Tech’s argument that the bill would predominantly help large national publications.
However, the JCPA is specifically designed to help small- and medium-sized papers and would help flow subscription and
advertising dollars back to their newsrooms. Large national publications like The Wall Street Journal and The New York
Times won’t qualify. The bill also incentivizes publishers to invest in hiring new journalists and newsroom personnel.
In fact, publishers that demonstrate their investment will receive a higher portion of the negotiated funds. As Big Tech
devalues high-quality journalism in favor of provocative, divisive clickbait, the prospect of layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs
has become an everyday reality for local journalists. While critics of the JCPA squabble about utopian solutions, local
publishers, who recognize the urgency to revive local news, are firmly supporting the JCPA. They acknowledge the JCPA
is the only bill that will put them on a more level playing field with the tech giants. Join me in asking your representatives
in Congress to prioritize passing the JCPA to protect their constituents’ access to objective, quality local reporting - and to
ensure that Thomas Jefferson’s fear of a democracy without robust journalism never comes to pass.
America’s W
Newspapers
NLA-tMPfltE.OHG
Sylvania Times
Proudly covering Screven County’s news,
sports, and community events
SamEades Publisher
Joe Brady Editor
Sam Eades Advertising Sales
Debbie Hearn Layout and Design Executive
Sarah Saxon Admin/Legals/AP Correspondent
Burton Kemp Sports Editor
Jake Gay Staff Writer
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