Leaders of community newspapering will gather at Mizzou to discuss the future of their business

Seven leaders of the community newspaper industry in America's heartland will meet at the University of Missouri in Columbia on Sept. 11 for a discussion about the future of such papers. Questions include: What value(s) do community newspapers offer citizens in self-governance of their local democratic institutions? How valuable are community newspapers in serving the local retail economic engines that sustain local communities? What opportunities exist for local community newspapers to continue as the primary source of community information, and how can community newspapers monetize those opportunities?

The panel will discuss reader interaction with newspapers in small communities, the perceived role of local newspapers in serving local democracy and factors that influence reading of local newspapers. It will also evaluate various editorial content and attributes of good journalism in local newspapers, and will use survey data on community papers, collected by the National Newspaper Association and the university's Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

The panel will include Michael Abernathy, president of Landmark Community Newspapers Inc., a highly regarded Kentucky-based chain with 56 paid-circulation papers in 13 states; outgoing NNA Region 7 Director Dave Berry, vice president of Community Publishers Inc. and publisher of eight southwest Missouri newspapers; Kenneth Fleming, associate director of research for the Reynolds Institute's Center for Advanced Social Research; Ralph Gage, director of special projects for The World Co. in Lawrence, Kan.; NNA President Steve Haynes, publisher and editor of The Oberlin Herald and president of Nor’West Newspapers in northwest Kansas; Wally Lage, chief operating officer of Rust Communications, based in Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and NNA Executive Director Brian Steffens.

The discussion will be held from 9 to 10:15 a.m. Sept. 11 in Fisher Auditorium, 87 Gannett Hall on the Missouri campus. The event is part of the centennial celebration of the university’s School of Journalism.