Obituary Writers Overworked, Remembering the Dead.

[Grasswire2]

https://www.adweek.com/digital/obituary-writers-restore-humanity-covid-19-crisis/


snip

America’s obituary writers go to work in newsrooms across the country to provide accurate accounts of individuals’ lives. The journalists who do this work are seen, and see themselves, as storytellers able to convey ideas of community and shared humanity. It’s a crucial burden right now, at a time when we are physically separated from one another—even the ones we love.

“Obituaries are a history of a community, and they tell the story of all the threads that tie us together—and they also tell how we’re all connected,” O’Donnell said. “An obituary can kind of knit a community together, whether it’s a small community newspaper or a big city newspaper. You’re sharing a history of the town.”

As the coronavirus pandemic ravages the world, the casualties are mounting, crowding the pages of print newspapers. There are only so many obituary writers and far too many dead, so not everyone gets a reported obituary. Everyone can, however, pay to put a loved one’s name in the paper. On Sunday, The Boston Globe printed 16 pages of death notices—which are paid obituaries, written by families or funeral homes and submitted to the newspaper. The Hartford Courant printed 12 pages of notices in one day; The Star-Ledger in New Jersey printed nine pages; New Orleans’ Times-Picayune and The New Haven Register each printed eight.[

[virgogal]

1. The Boston Globe charged $800.00 a day recently for a friend's obituary.

It was average length. They made a lot of money the day they ran 16 pages.

[Freddie]

2. And how many people aren't having obits published

Because they can’t plan a service right now. A good friend died of cancer in April and her husband hasn’t fine an obituary for that reason.