Tennessee newspaper firm expands in Missouri with purchase of well-regarded weekly

Gary and Helen Sosniecki, right, are selling The Vandalia (Mo.) Leader to Lakeway Publishers of Missouri, which already owns eight papers in the state. Lakeway is owned by the Jack Fishman family of Morristown, Tenn., which owns several papers in East and Middle Tennessee under the Lakeway Publishers name.

"During the Sosnieckis’ ownership, The Leader won 40 international, national and state awards for journalism excellence, including Gary Sosniecki receiving the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors’ Golden Quill Award for editorial writing in 2006," the Leader reported. "In addition, the Sosnieckis each received a National Newspaper Association President’s Award in March 'for public policy leadership to the NNA and community newspapers.' Gary Sosniecki testified on behalf of the NNA before the U.S. Postal Rate Commission last year as the commission reviewed new rates proposed by the U.S. Postal Service," a critical issue for weekly papers.

The Sosnieckis spoke at the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America last April about using the Web to do better journalism and make money at it. They said their Web operation was turning a profit. The Summit was held by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky. For a video of their presentation, click here and here. "I will miss publishing The Leader, of course, but I think I’ll miss working on www.vandalialeader.com even more," Gary Sosniecki wrote in his column.

He said he loves the Leader, the town, the people and especially its kids, "But, sometimes, love isn’t enough. Sometimes, your body tells you that you aren’t as young as you used to be, that, as you approach your 57th birthday, you’re pushing your body too hard, that 90 hours a week on the job, week after week after week, is too much for it to handle no matter how much you love what you’re doing or the community you’re doing it for. So Helen and I are going to take a break. A good, hard-working and honest family, nationally respected in the community-newspaper industry, is going to buy The Leader on Nov. 1 ... Jack is a native of Jackson, Tenn., and we have joked that the three of us — Jack, Helen and myself — all began our newspaper careers at The Jackson Sun."

Lakeway's other Missouri papers are the Bowling Green Times, The Louisiana Press-Journal, the Troy Free Press, The Elsberry Democrat, the Hermann Advertiser-Courier, the New Haven Leader, The Lincoln County Journal and the Centralia Fireside Guard. It also publishes specialty magazines and operates other businesses. (Read more)