Twenty years later, another edition done

Posted
SCOTT MCLEOD

In the beginning, one doesn’t even think about the long run. When you’re fighting every day to survive, there’s no time to look over your shoulder. Slow down long enough to take in what’s in the rearview mirror, and you’re all too likely to get eaten alive by those who would love nothing better than to chew up and spit out the upstart.

Now, though, 20 years after the very first edition of The Smoky Mountain News rolled off the presses, we made time to try and put things in perspective. It’s been entertaining looking back at some of the big stories. Perhaps more entertaining is processing how the media landscape has evolved. Looking forward, I’m left somewhat dumbstruck to even try and imagine what this business — our company and the media industry as a whole — will look like 20 years from now.

So let’s start at the beginning.

 

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