What’s lost when a newspaper closes?

It’s not my problem. It’s not your problem, either. So what if a daily newspaper ceases to exist?

It’s a loss, that’s what.

The demise of the King County Journal saddens me for reasons beyond personal unease about an industry that pays my bills. Of course I devoured every bit of recent news about the King County Journal, which printed its last edition Sunday. About 40 people in my profession lost their jobs.

The paper, which covered east and south King County, was closed by its new owner, Black Press Ltd. The British Columbia-based company also acquired a chain of nondaily papers when it bought King County Journal Newspapers from Peter Horvitz in November.

The now-closed daily will be replaced by twice-weekly newspapers covering half a dozen communities; several other papers will be weeklies.

Some would argue that’s not a problem at all. Even forgetting how I earn my living, I’d make the opposite argument. Something of real value is gone.

A daily local paper is a community’s glue. I may be very different from my neighbor. But if we both pick up the newspaper, we have something in common – information. We can chat about it, disagree over it or act upon it. The paper binds us together, every day.

“Anytime a newspaper goes out of business, it’s bad news for everyone in the community,” said John Harris, an assistant professor of journalism at Western Washington University.

“Newspapers really are the fourth estate. I don’t think people understand what it means to have a newspaper. The fourth estate is a check on government,” Harris said. “Newspapers inform citizens. That was the original intent of our founding fathers.”

While the weeklies are surviving, Harris added, “I don’t see that fewer voices are ever going to be better.”

When I think of a daily paper suddenly disappearing, I think of readers like my parents. If Spokane’s Spokesman-Review didn’t hit their porch each morning, they wouldn’t know how to begin their day.

Forget the fourth estate. My mom clips out and mails to me announcements of weddings, births and deaths. How else would I know what’s become of old friends in Spokane? I probably wouldn’t know.

At the University of Washington, Terry Kato sees the historical value of daily papers.

Newspaper archives tell “a continuous history of a town,” said Kato, a library specialist who oversees the UW’s microforms and newspaper collection. The university subscribes to 300 foreign and domestic newspapers, and keeps archival copies and film of all the papers in Washington state.

“It’s too bad. There is a loss,” he said of the King County Journal’s closure, which he suspects may be tied to urbanization of the area.

Ownership changes and mergers marked the short history of the King County Journal. But since the late 1970s, readers in Bellevue, Kirkland and other communities covered by the Journal have had their own daily papers.

Here in Snohomish County, The Herald marked its 100th anniversary in 2001. Many times, I have looked back at issues of The Everett Herald from a century ago. Not only have I found the news of the day, but the rich texture of the times.

I might be looking for a story on the blizzards of 1916, but from the ads and opinion pages I’ve learned about fashions, prices and politics in a bygone era. I like to think that 100 years from now, historians will find the words we write today.

On Tuesday, I went online to www.kingcountyjournal.com. There’s a terse message, “The King County Journal has ceased publication.” Readers are directed to the weeklies “for local news.”

It’s not my problem, but what a loss. And what a shame.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.