Editorial: If it can happen there...
Steve Hallstrom
President/Publisher,
McKenzie County Farmer
Brookings, South Dakota.
That one hit me hard.
Brookings, South Dakota.
Yikes.
You may have seen the story that hit last week that newspaper publisher News Media Corporation abruptly closed its doors and shut down its operation. In the blink of an eye, 37 newspapers in five states lost their local newspaper, news website, mobile and apps. South Dakota lost four of its newspapers. Wyoming lost 16 - SIXTEEN!
All of it. Gone. Overnight.
Is there any local news in Wyoming anymore? Well, there is, of course, but there’s nobody left to report it, because most of the local radio stations have pulled out, or are operating as a shell of their old selves. And because of that, the news about new city laws, new county taxes, and new football seasons at the high school will remain unknown to most of the town and the county.
That should concern all of us. It sure concerns me.
It’s been suggested that people these days just don’t care about local news anymore. I don’t believe that’s true, but do people care enough about it to subscribe and advertise? That’s the million-dollar question.
Page through our newspaper this week, scroll through the online version, or click on our mobile app and you’ll see a good list of advertisers that don’t want that coverage to end. To those businesses, we say a hearty thank you and we are thankful to help so many of you grow your companies - there is no bigger privilege!
But there are so many more of you out there that are trying to sell more, hire more, and grow your presence, and we would love to show you what we can do for you, because those who are putting newspaper together with radio are seeing some great successes.
Our subscriber base has moved from strictly hard copy to a mix of old-fashioned newspaper and online, but adding up all numbers, this subscriber base has dwindled over the years. So, we are asking ourselves what more we can do with our product to make us “must read” media.
We went on a listening tour of the community back in the spring, to find out what people liked about the Farmer and what they didn’t. We heard loud and clear that there are a lot of good things being reported in the local newspaper, but we needed to do more.
For the full story, visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today!