The meaning of "remaining publications in our group" was unclear. The memo seen by The Rural Blog was sent at least to managers of some papers in Kentucky and southern Indiana, and was a topic of discussion among Kentucky employees last week.
The memo was sent last week and gave a target date of Wednesday, Feb. 1. Paxton managers declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on such questions as possible layoffs.
The memo began, "As we all know, the newspaper industry has changed dramatically over the last several years, and especially since the Covid pandemic. Things that we used to see as normal business practices have developed into something completely. We are not unique, as industries all over the globe have changed how they do business."
In recent years Paxton, a family-owned firm based in Paducah, Ky., has become the fifth largest newspaper company in the U.S., in terms of the number of newspapers owned; it has about 125.
The memo anticipated unhappiness: "While we know there are going to be concerns over the inconveniences and perception this might create from a community standpoint, other offices within our company and other newspaper companies have already implemented this practice with nominal fallout, so we know it can be done successfully. Yes, this will be a different approach as to how we run our daily business, but the business world has changed how daily business is conducted."
It made an attempt to limit the fallout: "Ultimately, the community is going to channel the opinions of those in each office, so addressing frustrations internally while being positive externally will be crucial to a more seamless transition."
UPDATE, Feb. 1: The move appears to be the latest in a series. The Kentucky New Era, Paxton's daily in Hopkinsville, Ky., and The Paducah Sun, its headquarters paper, closed to the public during the pandemic and never reopened.
Sometimes I feel like our office is the water cooler of our community. We do get a steady stream of folks, even on days like yesterday when it was -20F. We serve as a drop off point for donation for our town's food shelf. We also serve as a drop off for community fundraisers. We sell tickets for community events. And yes, sometimes the interruptions are a bother, but it's an important part of being connected to your community.
ReplyDeleteWe do get folks coming in with news tips, or bringing in announcements and photos, as well as paying their subscription or advertising bills. And it is nice to put faces to the names of our local subscribers. We cannot afford to staff our front office full-time, so on our two less busy days, we take turns dealing with the foot/phone traffic.
Jodi Summit
General Manager
The Timberjay
Tower, Minnesota
(218) 753-2950
editor@timberjay.com
I didn't think the traditional newspaper industry could do more than it was already doing to hasten its demise. But they just keep finding new ways to alienate their communities. Still, I feel confident that something better and more responsive to the public will rise to fill the void -- there are a lot of smart young people entering journalism who can figure this out.
ReplyDeleteFrom Chris Evans of The Crittenden Press in Marion:
ReplyDeleteA mystery to many is the model that has been deployed for rural newspapers PMG has acquired in our area. It seems to be a model of survival only. It is difficult to believe those newspapers will be able to remain viable conduits of news and pertinent information with their offices shuttered. In this climate, intentional and hyper-local news is key to sustained viability.
From Dan Thalman of the Washington County News in Kansas:
ReplyDeleteI know nothing about the Paxton Media Group, so I’ll reserve judgment (though I imagine they are like any group owner who believes in bottom line over quality journalism).
That said, I’ve toyed with the idea of closing down my office and having my staff work remote. But I haven’t been able to figure out how that works for our bookkeeper. It’s deadline day today, but I’m working from home since my wife slipped on ice this morning and injured both wrists, so I’ll be assisting her while working on my home computer. Outside of not being able to yell questions down the hall, my location really doesn’t change much in today’s production schedule.
I used to think having an office was integral, but honestly, our foot traffic is extremely limited in our office, even though we are located downtown in a nice office. The only people who come in are generally folks who want to save the cost of a stamp. Does it add legitimacy to have the office? I would think so, but I’m a longtime subscriber to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and I imagine I’ll never step foot in their offices. Does that make them less professional?
People don’t come in to the office to give me news tips. They call or email or text.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with questioning our model as long as we continue to focus on our journalistic mission.
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ReplyDeleteFrom Kathy Tretter, Editor and publisher, Ferdinand News and Spencer County Leader, Indiana:
ReplyDeleteI am surrounded by Paxton properties and after the first local paper was purchased and that office shuttered we would get customers asking how to get in touch to submit a wedding announcement or even an ad. They went from over 10,000 subscribers to (last I heard) less than 3,000, and that is a daily. Others in the area are weeklies and they, too shuttered their offices. In one county where we also have a paper they were throwing away bound copies of papers that were not available any other way and a few of us swept in to rescue these valuable pieces of local history. At the daily the former owner heard they were going to pitch the bound copies so he took them to the county museum. It might be better if I don’t get started on Paxton but suffice to say I’ve told my family if I drop dead at my desk don’t sell to them.
As with many of you we get many walk-ins, maybe to pay a bill or submit an article and we also sell local history books, Christmas ornaments from the Historical Society, etc. (and don’t collect any of the proceeds). While we can’t claim to be the heartbeat of our community we still seem to be important to our readers and having access is important, but each of you know your own community and what sort of traffic you get, so I think it might be a personal choice.
From Max Kabat, publisher, Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa, Texas:
ReplyDeleteWhat if you realized that we don’t just deliver news but we bring together community? Might that change the interaction between reader and journalism?
What if our office space didn’t just house some desk space and some empty rooms but provided a gathering space for our community to, well, commune?
This was how we answered those questions: https://www.thesentinelmarfa.com/