SmallTownPapers

07/06/2025

Saying goodbye to an award-winning small town Ohio newspaper with a long history. The article spells out the challenges of today's community papers. https://tinyurl.com/zjb9cwfr

ARCHBOLD, Ohio — After publishing for 120 years, garnering numerous state and national awards, and punching well above its weight in its coverage of the ...

07/04/2025

Happy Independence Day from the SmallTownPapers team!

07/04/2025

If you've ever lived in a small town and cherished the local newspaper, this may sound all too familiar. https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/06/30/beware-what-spreads-in-a-news-desert/

My town's once robust newspaper was our town square. Its decline has left a news desert where anonymous Facebook posters fill the vacuum.

07/03/2025

This is a nice look at how some Virginia community publications are straddling the print and digital fence - https://www.arlnow.com/2025/07/02/n-va-print-newspapers-evolve-to-survive-in-increasingly-digital-industry/

Some Northern Virginia newspaper publishers are taking creative chances to retain a viable print presence in an industry where online news is increasingly dominant. As instability in readership and advertising has disrupted revenue streams, some specialized publications have still found success. Mea...

07/02/2025

Research finds that there are 5 key drivers that determine whether a town loses its local newspaper - https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/06/why-some-towns-lose-local-news-and-others-dont/

Research identifies five key drivers — ranging from racial disparity to market forces — that determine which towns lose their papers and which ones beat the odds.

07/02/2025

How coffee and tacos saved a newspaper - https://www.journee-mondiale.com/en/this-small-texas-town-saved-its-newspaper-with-coffee-and-breakfast-tacos-when-3200-others-closed/

A small Texas town has cracked the code on saving local journalism, and the secret weapon isn’t digital subscriptions or wealthy donors—it’s perfectly brewed coffee and breakfast tacos. The Sentinel in Marfa combines a thriving café with a 99-year-old newspaper, creating a revolutionary model...

07/02/2025

An interesting read - check out this interview with an entrepreneur trying to build a thriving network of community newspapers!

Gulban’s CherryRoad Media is racing to prove that small-town newspapers can survive — while the industry battles Big Tech’s growing control

07/02/2025

And it’s not just about the money.

07/02/2025

Say it ain't so. AI authored pieces in newspapers? Coming from the journalism business, our team members are united in not really loving this idea but at least they're identified as written by AI.

Il Foglio editor Claudio Cerasa believes the chatbot should be treated like a colleague.

07/02/2025

We love this story about using local residents to help with historic preservation projects!

What’s in an old photograph? For the Morden History & Archives group, a picture helps preserve history. For those who remember the faces, buildings, and objects that make up the photograph's subjects, the memento is reminiscent of a bygone time. Maurice Butler, a long-time resident of Morden who h...

04/30/2025

Another example of how communities are preserving their first draft of history and making it online accessible and searchable!

The Field Library’s digitization project forms a fascinating — and priceless — time capsule of local journalism

04/30/2025

A great read about AI and your digital archive! Have questions about AI and archives? We can help.

Before AI can work its magic, your collections must be digitized. We provide archive-quality scanners that help organizations scan everything from handwritten