The Daily Item’s Munroe Street office briefly became a television studio Friday as Boston 25 special projects producer Robert Dumas interviewed Essex Media Group president and Item publisher Edward M. Grant and state Rep. Lori Ehrlich about the Marblehead Democrat’s proposal to establish a commission to study print media’s decline and the small newspaper’s future.
A legislative committee is studying Ehrlich’s proposal to start “an essential conversation to ensure our communities get the journalism they deserve.”
Ehrlich is co-sponsoring her bill with state Sen. Brendan Crighton. She said shrinking newsrooms and small newspaper closings and consolidations are creating “news deserts” across America.
Grant bought the 142-year-old Item in 2014 with six fellow investors to “hold a mirror up to the communities we cover.”
“We let them know what’s going on in their backyard. Our only stock in trade is credibility,” he said.
Dumas said 25’s piece will air sometime in January.
