Print journalism staged a major comeback on Long Island this week, with newsstands selling an unprecedented number of local newspapers the Suffolk Times and the Riverhead News-Review. In fact, the demand was intense enough to prompt the weeklies to issue a combined 5,500 extra copies. So, what does this mean for the future of news consumption?
Nothing, it turns out. Apparently, the unusual increase in sales can be attributed to $6,000 in bulk purchases made by two mysterious customers who, it seems, were attempting to prevent the community from learning about a local doctor’s recent grand jury arrest on charges of health care fraud. (Both publications ran stories on the matter.) Of course, as even the papers’ own owner, Troy Gustavson, pointed out, the reports remain accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
