'Fight for your newspaper,' rural editor urges her readers

Editor Pam Lowe

When the former owners of the newspaper in Corning, Ark., closed their business recently, Editor Pam Lowe ran a story reassuring her readers that the weekly wasn't doing likewise. And it also led her to write a long column that was a message not just for her readers, but for all in small towns.< br />"I have answered and fielded questions about the future of the Clay County Courier from concerned residents," Lowe wrote. "If anything this concern that the paper could ever close should serve as a flag that newspapers need support," partly because "Industries and businesses are looking in newspapers for a town with potential for growth and hope."

Publisher Jeremy Gulban

The Courier and its sister paper, the Clay County Times-Democrat in the county's other seat, Piggott, are owned by CherryRoad Media's Jeremy Gulban, who bought them in June 2021 and March 2022, respectively. "Our publisher took a risk investing in a newspaper in a town that was down on its luck," Lowe writes. "He was tickled to death over the response to his purchasing the Courier and the number of people who came to our open house two years ago, which he flew down from New Jersey to attend. I’m sure he felt if he invested in our town and our people by purchasing a business that the community would respond in kind and support the paper; in essence, take a newspaper with a strong publishing birthright and build upon its rich history to transform it into its best self."

Lowe said the late-2022 deaths of her father and grandmother made her try "walking away from the paper," but "My love for my town, our people and the newspaper drew me back. I’m not one to give up easily when I feel passionately and believe in something and I believe in our newspaper. I want our people to love and believe in it too. I have fought, sometimes behind the scenes, for our town and community, our senior citizens, our veterans, our children, our school, and just about every aspect of Corning. . . . What the Courier needs, what every newspaper needs now, is for the community to fight for it. Are you having an event, a yard sale, do you need to sell something? Do you own a business? Fight for your newspaper and purchase advertising. Become a subscriber. Your newspaper needs sustainable and consistent advertisers."

Clay County, Arkansas (Wikipedia)

Lowe's local narrative evolved into one for any town: "If your town’s newspaper eventually closes due to lack of community and business interest, life will go on and you all will go on. But your community won’t have local coverage of fact-based news and events. Your community will likely rely on social media information and that thought is insufferable because the information there is so often unreliable, not to mention negative. Your community deserves better than that."

Lowe concluded, "Communities are at their best when we join in a fight together for what we believe in. While it is important to fight to bring in new businesses to our towns, it’s just as vital that we support and keep our existing businesses, especially a business that protects, informs and cares about our community. Your newspaper knows your city. It is your city. Fight for your newspaper."