(10-7-26) The above posting has gained a lot of attention and has a lot of insight of the current situation facing local newspapers and media sports departments.

A good example of what is taking place is below in the X posting that was found in Leah’s posting.

Progress in social media has done a lot in the issues facing newspapers coverage today.

But then again…when was the last time you sent a telegram? The world keeps changing.

Newspaper management is one of the main reasons why all of this is happening today.

When social media was getting started newspapers had no paywalls and everything was free. But as time passed management decided they needed to start charging for content. Meanwhile TV stations decided to keep content free. They have insight how to make it work financially.

At the same time schools have decided to provide FREE coverage of their sports using social media and now in some form are actually competing with the media for followers. Now sites that are providing coverage of local sports by non-establishment sources are being singled out as illegitimate by schools and are being denied access to sites.

Meanwhile newspapers have still not adapted and struggle to find a way to provide any type of FREE coverage. If I am going to advertise on the paper’s social media properties I want people to be able to see my ad…not a paywall that wants me to pay a subscription to read it.

All the cuts are because of money…not because of the coverage done by the sports guys. They do a great job and many use social media to share information. But this is just the beginning of the purge, there will continue to be pink slips. Radio and TV have joined in making those cuts. Local radio coverage of HS sports continues to disappear.

Let’s face it…waiting to buy an actual newspaper to read the game story it is already old news. Social media coverage is right now no waiting.

The good old days are now behind us.

From the Pony Express to the Group Chat: How Fast News Travels Now

Thanks to Muse AI

In 1860, if you wanted to get a message from Missouri to California, you handed it to a kid on a horse and crossed your fingers for ten days.

That was the Pony Express. Fastest thing on earth at the time — and it lasted about 18 months before the telegraph showed up and put it out of business overnight.

In 1861, news went from a ten-day horse ride to dots and dashes down a wire in seconds. People probably said “nothing will ever beat this.” Then came the telephone. Then radio. Then television — now you could SEE the news happening. Then the internet, and the whole cycle collapsed again.

Here’s where we landed: in 1860, your “breaking news” was two weeks old before it reached you. Today, you find out about it from a stranger’s phone video before the news trucks have left the station. Your grandpa listened to the World Series on the radio. Your grandson watches a game highlight on a watch.

The Pony Express riders were tough kids on fast horses who got the job done. Respect. But if you told one of them that in 2026 his whole route’s worth of news would travel around the world in a second — while somebody argues about it in the comments — he’d probably fall off his horse.

The more things change, the more the mail stays late.