The Iowa-based publisher of several small-town newspapers that are at risk of closing says efforts are underway to keep some of them in business.
Mid-America Publishing in Hampton plans to stop publishing more than 20 newspapers today.
President Matt Grohe says rising costs and declining circulation forced the decision, but he says talks are underway to sell the papers.
“We believe in newspapers and community journalism,” Grohe says, “and we think it’s important, but right now we are going a different direction, and we’re passing these papers off to people who could continue to run them.”
Grohe says Mid-America Publishing will instead focus on its commercial printing business. The company has agreed to continue printing six publications next week while a sale is finalized. Those include the Wright County Monitor, Eagle Grove Eagle and Ida County Courier.
“Kind of a fluid situation,” Grohe says. “We’re in talks with a number of people. They’ve been given reports about the newspapers and information, and they’re doing due diligence, and they’re thinking about it.”
Becky Vonnahme, with the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation, says the non-profit is working to keep some of the newspapers from folding.
“We know it’s a difficult situation right now with these closures and the impact that it will have on the communities,” Vonnahme says, “and we know that once local news disappears, it is incredibly hard to rebuild that.”
Over the past five years, the foundation has provided more than one-million dollars in assistance to 11 newsrooms. The list of the impacted newspapers can be found HERE.
(Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)