I bought a newspaper last week — a good, old-fashioned, traditional, paid subscription newspaper. I swore I would never publish one of those again, but here I am. A paid subscription newspaper publisher of the Guthrie County Times Vedette in Panora.
In my early years, I oversaw newspapers and shopping guides covering much of Dallas, Boone, Story and Greene counties, starting several from scratch. After that, I managed a commercial printing operation, a small daily newspaper, and a group of weekly newspapers and shoppers in southeastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Building readership through paid circulation is a difficult task, and one that I did not have much success doing. Few have. The traditional model of newspapering based on subscription revenue and a reliance on legal advertising is broken. I am convinced of that, and you likely are, too.
Our company, Big Green Umbrella Media, has changed a great deal since I started it in 2003. It had to, or we wouldn’t be here today. We have more readers and more advertisers than ever before, and we accomplished this in ways much different than most newspapers. But regardless of the type of media, the focus has to be on growing the audience. Ultimately, what that means is creating more eyeballs for advertising. If you don’t get results for your advertisers, you don’t survive today. Period.
Beyond that, a publisher also has to truly care about the community. Local media ownership is important, as I have seen too many out-of-staters — and even out-of-towners — destroy newspapers and the hearts of the communities they were supposed to serve.
Michael Gartner told me more than a decade ago that he felt a day would come when the large media corporations would no longer be satisfied with the profit margins of the newspapers they depleted, and the publications would be owned locally once again. That’s happening right now. In Storm Lake. In Spencer. In Indianola. And more to come, certainly.
We are glad to be part of this trend. I say that carefully, as our company is based in Polk County. Even so, we are planning to continue to have an office in Guthrie County, but, more importantly, we also live, work and play there. My wife, Jolene, and I own a home in the county, and we have gotten to know many great people. We see passion in Guthrie County, and that inspires us. We also believe we can take some of what we have learned through the years and apply it to a paid subscription newspaper, too.
This effort is going to take time, patience, a financial investment and trust, but we believe it can happen. We have also learned to slow down, listen and learn before making any rash decisions.
Like other local publishers across the state, we are going to be experimenting with new models and making every effort to ensure that the community newspaper — and local journalism — is around for many years to come.
Have a thoughtful Thursday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
