Avoiding a Tragedy of Our Commons by David Schindel

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone

From “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell

We like to think that America is a land of plenty, and that our market-based economy will produce all the goods and services we need. It’s true a lot of the time, until something changes and those things are gone. This column will discuss an example that shore residents will recognize and another that could arrive here anytime soon.

Starting in 1634, Boston Commons was used as open pastureland and the grass was a ‘public good’. That’s what economists call resources that everyone depends on and uses, but no one owns. Fresh air and clean water are examples. When the supply decreases below the public’s demand, economists call it ‘a failure of the commons.’ 

Chesapeake Bay’s oyster fisheries are an example, along with Long Island Sound and other oyster-producing estuaries.

The commercial yield of oysters from the Bay reached an all-time peak around 1870, not long after oyster dredging on a large scale became legal. Seafood companies from other regions sent oyster dredgers to the Chesapeake’s rich oyster beds, further depleting populations. The growing human population around the Bay led to increased pollution levels in the Bay, and occasional blooms of algae and diseases did further damage to oyster populations. All of these contributed to the steep and lasting decline.

State regulations now limit how, where, and when oysters can be harvested from Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Sanctuaries are protected to ensure the supply of larval oysters that disperse into other areas of the Bay from which they can be harvested. Oyster farming has also reduced pressure on wild oyster populations. These investments in the health of the commons are preserving the public good.

Like locally grown oysters, local newspapers are public goods that are at risk. 

Local newspapers once thrived across the country. They were valued as essential public goods because they were the sole source of reliable information. Readers relied on them for news of the outside world as well as their hometown news. Local government and businesses relied on them to keep residents informed. 

For many decades, advertising allowed newspaper publishers to keep prices low. The rise of the Internet offered more cost-effective ways to advertise, and the costs of writing and producing newspapers could only be shifted onto consumers for a while. Local newspapers began to disappear as their traditional revenue source shifted to the Internet–a global commons. 

The demise of some local papers has been a drawn-out process. The Daily Banner of Cambridge began publishing in 1897 and was purchased by Independent Newsmedia of Delaware in late 2008. The Banner became a twice-weekly paper in 2008 and a weekly in August 2017. Its final edition was published in May 2025. 

Rural areas without local newspapers have become ‘news deserts.’ These areas were also among the last to get internet access. 

The downward spiral of local newspapers is truly tragic news. According to the Poynter Institute, 3,500 newspapers shut down between 2005 and 2025, 270,000 newspaper jobs were lost, and 50 million Americans found themselves in areas without a local news source.

Numbers alone can’t convey the impact of this tragedy of the commons. A growing portion of the country has become dependent on information sources that are unfamiliar and can be untrustworthy. People don’t have the information they need for informed decisions about their lives and their votes.

Our region has not become a news desert, so far. The Spy newspapers – Cambridge, Talbot, Centreville, Chestertown, and the Spy Journal – provide us with news in so many aspects of our lives. We rely on them for news about state and local government, arts and leisure, cultural events, and commentary on national and global affairs. 

The Spy newspapers are possible because you, the readers, are the reliable base of the food chain. You have made our news commons sustainable, whether you have a paid subscription, make whatever contributions you can afford, or are among the contributing partner organizations or major donors. Thanks to your support, many thousands of shore residents receive a Spy newspaper in their email inboxes every day. One million different visitors look at a Spy paper annually and click on 3.5 million pages each year.

Spy Community Media, the parent nonprofit organization, is now considering new ways to deliver a reader-friendly paper with increased coverage of topics relevant to you. We will need your input (starting with comments on this column) and ideas coming from discussions we’re having with local partner organizations.

With your support, our commons will stay healthy and keep growing. Thanks for helping keep us out of the news deserts spreading across the country.