Program to find, train, support buyers for community newspapers seeks applications for fellowships by Dec. 31

Screenshot of NewStart website

A new program at West Virginia University is trying to develop the next generation of community newspaper owners by recruiting, training and supporting them. NewStart, a collaboration between WVU's Reed College of Media and the West Virginia Press Association, aims to recruit, train, and support new buyers with paid fellowships.

Local ownership of weeklies is declining: a quarter-century ago, half were independently owned, but by 2018 fewer than one-third were, according to research by Penny Abernathy at the University of North Carolina. Of the 2,100 papers that have shuttered in the past 15 years, Abernathy says all but 70 published three times a week or less, reports Kristen Hare of the Poynter Institute. Most were rural or suburban weeklies.

NewStart was driven by the inability of some newspaper owners in West Virginia who want to retire and can't find a buyers for their papers, a phenomenon that has surfaced in other states, such as Texas. Small, family-owned weeklies tend to have a common set of problems, according to New Start Director Jim Iovino: Younger family members who have moved away or don't want to own the paper, and long-time owners who can't find a buyer, don't want to sell to a chain, and don't want to quit and close the paper.

Potential owners could be anyone, from laid-off journalists to recent college graduates to entrepreneurs, and even other local businesses that realize the value of a local newspaper to its owners and the community. For the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, Iovino wrote a story about M.E. Sprengelmeyer, a refugee from daily journalism who turned around a New Mexico weekly. It's part of a package about rural newspaper ownership, introduced by a column from Institute Director Al Cross, editor and publisher of The Rural Blog.

NewStart's website says many profitable are available. WVPA Executive Director Don Smith said the owners can make profits of 20 to 25 percent, and the rewards are more than monetary. "There’s a lot of pride in these little papers," Smith told Hare. "Those folks won’t win a Pulitzer, but they are recognized in their community for the job they do, and that’s important, too."

NewStart is taking applications for its first round of fellowships, which will start in June. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree and the intent to buy and run a publication. Fellows don't receive any funding to buy a paper, but they'll get guidance on how to get a loan or direct financing from the paper's current owner. Apply here by Dec. 31.