The one constant through all the years

Terence Mann has one of my favorite quotes of all-time in the movie "Field of Dreams."

When trying to convince Ray Kinsella not to sell his farm that hosts magical baseball games, he begins a monologue about the importance of the sport in our time.

Terence Mann, left, (James Earl Jones) talks with Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in the movie "Field of Dreams."

"The one constant throught the years, Ray," he says, "has been baseball."

And, for a second, one starts to realize that not only is the game significant because it is here now, but also because it has been here for a long time.

"It is a part of our past, Ray," he continues. "It reminds us of all that once was good and could be again."

In a way, these comments also translate for me to 20th century media, especially the traditional and always threatened but always surviving newspapers.

Let's just get this out there right now. I'm a newspaper guy. Have been for six years.

There have been newspaper guys (and gals) like me for a long time now. It truly is a part of our past, and something with that kind of history (like baseball) doesn't just die out over night.

Baseball has survived the times. So has newspaper.

It's going to take a little more than a Web site here and a podcast there to eliminate what has been such an important part of society for such a long time.

Take the Lawrence Journal-World for example. It prides itself as much as any for the steps taken to converge media and give users an interactive Web site with pictures, Web stories, blogs and the beginnings of podcasts.

But still, the lifeblood of the Web site is the newspaper stories. These draw more audience than all the other elements combined.

Though we might post it in more places now, newspaper writing is too much a part of us to simply be taken over by newer media.

Sure, we hear newspapers are struggling to get by. But now, 5 years, 10 years, and 110 years ago they always seemed to find a way through it.

I'm sure in the future we'll continue to keep producing these newspapers.

And, like always, when we build it, the audiences will continue to come.