How Not to Respond to John Oliver’s Ode to Local Newspapers

John Oliver’s 19-minute riff about what’s become of local newspapers made me laugh. Parts of it also made me want to cry.

But it did not make me want to complain — even for one second — about the comedian’s acerbic commentary on journalism in his “Last Week Tonight” show Sunday on HBO. Because the whole Oliver piece was a pitch-perfect ode to how important newspapers are to their communities, and how troubling it is that they are fading.

But being ticked off at Oliver was indeed the reaction of David Chavern, the president and CEO of the Virginia-based Newspaper Association of America.

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