Sometimes-impolitic editor-publisher in Minnesota is giving away his newspaper so he can help children in Ukraine

Lee Zion at his paper (Guardian photo by Matthew Cantor)

Another weekly newspaper editor-publisher has given his paper away, but he says it's not for business or journalistic reasons; he says his energies will be put to better use helping children in Ukraine.

 

“How could I sit comfortably at my desk while Ukrainian children die?” Lee Zion of the Lafayette Nicollet Ledger in Lafayette, Minn., asked Matthew Cantor of The Guardian. “If they want me as a teacher, I’ll be a teacher. If they want me as a guy driving a truck, delivering supplies, I will deliver supplies. If they need help with cleanup efforts in Bucha and other cities, I will assist with the cleanup.”

After unsuccessfully trying to sell the paper, Zion ran an ad saying he wanted to leave it “in good hands.” He said it was “financially solvent” but “The next owner must show that he or she has the knowledge, experience and the drive to take on the challenge.” Enter Robert Lawson, 37, a resident of Lafayette and former editor of another paper in the area, who told Cantor the opportunity “was just kind of perfect.”

"One element of his predecessor’s work Lawson may not pursue is his editorials, which have occasionally landed him in hot water," Cantor writes. "In 2019, Zion wrote a piece on declining fertility rates in which he suggested a remedy: women could 'have sex with me.' It also suggested increasing immigration, noting that this might bother some people because it could 'make America less white,' referencing Donald Trump’s 'Make America great again' slogan."

 

“There was a huge outcry,” Zion recalled. “Some people really, really loved that piece. And others hated it. Hated it with a passion. . . . One of them said, I will never advertise in this paper, so long as Lee Zion is in charge. Now that I’m done, a new person can probably win this guy back.”

Zion, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who has spent his adult life in newspapers, moved to Lafayette in 2018 to buy the Ledger for $35,000. Now he says he will stay in Ukraine “for as long as they’ll have me. And who knows? There’s a Jewish community in Ukraine. I could find a home among the Jewish community.” Cantor writes, "He hopes his plans inspire others to take similar action."