How beloved are they?

[DanOregon]

I don't know if legal notices are still a thing. Seems local governments could just put them all on-line and people would be able to find them. Also don't know if local newspapers have enough readers to actually satisfy the various requirements that are the point of legal notices.
That said, when the oldest generation passes, there won't be enough paid obits to keep the lights on. The people that want to see if anyone they know died will be gone, the friends and acquaintances of those people the surviving families want to notify will be gone. There will be no point.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I remember at my last paper, a small and shrinking daily that was mid-sized at one point, there was some sabre-rattling about the legal notices going to a county-wide publication. It didn't happen, but there was serious talk of even greater layoffs and possibly shutting the doors entirely if that source of income went away.

Obits seem like an after-thought these days - the funeral home websites and social media are rapidly taking over. When that and legal notices dry up, shut the ****ing lights out.

 

[Batman]

One obituary phrase I keep seeing is "Bob transitioned."
Meaning he transitioned from one life to the next in a religious sense, but that obviously has an entirely different meaning these days that I don't think these families fully grasp.

A bigger pet peeve is with our local funeral homes. They all use different styles for place names, so one will use the AP abbreviation for the state, another the postal abbreviation, another will spell it out. Some do all three in the same obituary.
I'd love to clean them up, but since the paid obits are charged by the word we have a strict rule not to mess with those if it'll change the word count. We still proof them, but mostly for obvious misspellings.

 

[DanOregon]

I've seen some newspapers offer obits for pets. That could keep a few papers around a little longer.

 

[I Should Coco]

I remember at my last paper, a small and shrinking daily that was mid-sized at one point, there was some sabre-rattling about the legal notices going to a county-wide publication. It didn't happen, but there was serious talk of even greater layoffs and possibly shutting the doors entirely if that source of income went away.

Obits seem like an after-thought these days - the funeral home websites and social media are rapidly taking over. When that and legal notices dry up, shut the ****ing lights out.

Yeah, we are debating wording of obits (a threadjack partly my fault) but in 10 years, there probably won't be many obits or legal notices in print. Because (a) the small- to mid-size newspapers that still run them will be done or online only, and (2) politicians will take away the requirement to run ordinances, probate statements, etc. in print.

 

[cjericho]

I don't know if legal notices are still a thing. Seems local governments could just put them all on-line and people would be able to find them. Also don't know if local newspapers have enough readers to actually satisfy the various requirements that are the point of legal notices.
That said, when the oldest generation passes, there won't be enough paid obits to keep the lights on. The people that want to see if anyone they know died will be gone, the friends and acquaintances of those people the surviving families want to notify will be gone. There will be no point.

it's still a thing. when it's unclaimed property listings, it's usually half the paper.

 

[wicked]

The family had a right to be pissed for you adding that to the obit. News story? Absolutely. Obit? No. You were wrong.

1. To counter one baseless claim made here: I did not grab something off Wikipedia and just assume it was accurate. It was from a major publication, the age of the guy, his middle initial, the town of the death and the date of the death was a match, as was the name of the wife. And of course there was a police log entry. I'm kinda insulted that someone thinks I'm that much of an idiot. Shame on you.
2. We treated obits as news stories. That was drilled into our heads, repeatedly. This was in the day when journalism was still journalism. They want an ode to their dead family member? Spend $100 — the cost was much cheaper then — and it goes with the rest of the death notices.

 

[wicked]

I've seen some newspapers offer obits for pets. That could keep a few papers around a little longer.

A friend of a friend says some newspapers are "training" reporters on how to "interview" pets.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

One of my former stops had a blanket "we don't cover suicides" policy. There are times when it felt a little too restrictive, but felt like a pretty compassionate policy.

 

[wicked]

I feel like that's standard unless it happens in a public place or it involves a crime.

 

[Here me roar]

I feel like that's standard unless it happens in a public place or it involves a crime.

Or the family wants it public. That happened at my final paper. High school swimmer. The family came to us and wanted to talk about it and wanted it to be public knowledge and wanted to be a tool for prevention.

 

[Flip Wilson]

I've seen some newspapers offer obits for pets. That could keep a few papers around a little longer.

RIP Big Mama, the chicken

Client Challenge

 

[DanOregon]

A friend of a friend says some newspapers are "training" reporters on how to "interview" pets.

They probably hired this guy as the consultant.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Q: Was it hard to run in the Kentucky Derby?

A: Neigh.

 

[SixToe]

People in the U.S. spent about $157 billion in 2025 on their pets.

I've had pets for more than 55 years. We took care of them, loved them, all the things. But I never took any of them to get pedicures, or paid to have "play days" at the kennel, and we drew a line on expensive medical care. Our vet suggested what essentially was tendon replacement surgery and rehab - at Vanderbilt, 2+ hours away - for our goofy dog that had a gimp hip. It would've cost almost five figures AND not have a guarantee of success. He had a gimp hip until the day he died.

Given the money people spend on everything from reptiles and cats to their moofy floofy mopsie "baby" dog, newspapers should start doing obits, births, birthdays, field trial wins and anything else related to them. Readers probably would eat that sh*t up and pay for it, too.

 

[DanOregon]

It's true. You'd make more on a Pets page from ads and obits than you would on pretty much anything.

 

[dixiehack]

Our vet suggested what essentially was tendon replacement surgery and rehab - at Vanderbilt,

Wait, what?

Vanderbilt has no vet school. Are you saying there was or is a people doctor up there willing to moonlight on dogs?

 

[SixToe]

Nashville, and my memory probably is wrong, but I thought she said it was associated w VU

 

[TigerVols]

UT has one of the finest vet schools in the country; maybe he meant Knoxville or maybe it has some sort of branch in Nashville.

 

[Here me roar]

Pretty sure he meant Vanderbilt

Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program | Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program | Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology