News-media roundup: Gannett exec vows, 'We are going to save local journalism', but what about ghost newspapers?

Rebuild Local News Coalition map, adapted by The Rural Blog

Some of the money Congress appropriated for high-speed internet service should also go toward improving local news coverage, because nearly half of the "news deserts" in the U.S. are also "broadband deserts," write Steven Waldman, head of the Rebuild Local News Coalition, and Penn State Professor Christiopher Ali. In formal comments to the Commerce Department, they point out the "double deserts" and suggest guidelines for a grant program for local news outlets.

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Gannett Co. has named Michael A. Anastasi, vice president of The Tennessean and USA Today South Region editor, to lead what it calls an "effort to transform the growth trajectory for hundreds of local newspapers. He will implement Chief Content Officer Kristin Roberts' “Project Breakthrough,” which the company says "focuses on key growth areas to increase nationwide audience, including opinion columns, newsletters, service journalism, breaking news and audience engagement." Roberts said, “We are going to save local journalism, and we’re going to do it by working together with absolutely clear eyes about the challenge and tremendous speed toward the solution. When we place the reader at the very center of our business plan, we begin to prioritize what the reader wants and needs.” (Gannett just posted a job for a local fact-check reporter who can work from anywhere.)

Mary Jo Hotzler

Gannett's announcement raises questions about what it will do with its many "ghost newspapers," which no longer have a physical presence in their communities. Editor & Publisher's Gretchen Peck has a feature on that today; one of her examples is St. Cloud, Minn., where Fargo-based Forum Communications, which has three papers within an hour's drive, has started St. Cloud Focus, a website, a newsletter and a monthly print edition to compete with Gannett's St. Cloud Times, which at one point this year had no reporters and now has only one. Forum's chief content officer, Mary Jo Hotzler, said she went to St. Cloud to talk with leaders, and and “It was loud and clear to me that they wanted a local news organization. They wanted local headlines. It was not lost on them that those were gone. People were not indifferent about local news in this community.”

In Macomb, Ill., Gannett "did not renew the McDonough County Voice’s lease at the end of March 2023," reports TriStates Public Radio. "A city that 20 years ago boasted two daily newspapers with physical buildings and 'boots on the ground' now had none." Enter former Voice publisher Lynne Campbell, who created the Community News Brief in 2017 and has eight correspondents. "It publishes three times a week. Hard copies are mailed to about 2,000 subscribers on Tuesdays and Fridays, and a free copy is available at dozens of locations around town on Wednesdays," Alex Degman reports.

In Oregon, "The Eugene Register-Guard, once one of the best newspapers in the region, today has no local editor, no publisher, no physical newsroom and little love from a dismayed citizenry. The news staff that once exceeded 80 now stands at six," Jeff Manning of The Oregonian reports in a comprehensive story. "Few media companies have shown Gannett’s willingness to cut staff to skeletal levels. . . . Since 2019, total employment has declined from 21,255 to 11,200."

The Institute for Nonprofit News has launched the Rural News Network to "bring some deeper reporting" to news deserts and places with ghost papers. "The network includes 68 nonprofit newsrooms of all sizes, and was piloted starting in 2021," reports the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. "Funding comes from Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Walton Family Foundation and others, with a collaborative focus on topics such as health equity, water scarcity and education."

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Perry Bacon Jr., a Louisville-based columnist for The Washington Post, lists seven news outlets "reimagining political journalism," including States Newsroom, which now has outlets in 34 states and partnerships in most others. "So much is happening at the state level and there are so few reporters in most capitals, these operations are extremely valuable. I subscribe to the newsletter for the Kentucky Lantern and read it every day." SN Publisher Chris Fitzsimon told Bacon, “In many states, we have more reporters in the capital year-round than any other news organization.”

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Carter and Sarah Newton sold the Galena Gazette in northwest Illinois to employee-owned Woodward Communications of nearby Dubuque, Iowa, on April 12. "Health considerations played a major role in the Newtons’ decision to sell," the Gazette reported. "Sarah has been treated for cholangeocarcinoma, (bile duct cancer), a treatable but not curable cancer since July 2020. . . . Carter Newton was hired in December 1979 as the managing editor and acquired an ownership interest in January 1982. In December 1985, the Newtons bought out the ownership interest of Sam and Fran Byers. In 2001, Galena Gazette Publications, Inc., purchased the stock held by Bob and Frances Melvold, Maquoketa, Iowa, making the Newtons sole owners of the newspaper. Carter is the longest serving publisher in the newspaper’s history."