08/20/2025
Social media sympathy doesn’t pay the bills. If you want to show your support, subscribe, advertise, step up.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER, LOCAL JOURNALISM
This column by Billy McMacken was published on the front page of The Brookings Register today, the first printed edition under new ownership for the newspaper. Billy worked at the Register from 1990 to 2022. For his final 22 years in Brookings, he was publisher of the Register. He now lives in Illinois where he owns nine community weekly newspapers. Billy’s message about the urgent need to support the community’s newspaper and local journalism is one that needs to resonate everywhere today. Local journalism is essential to an informed community and a healthy democracy.
By Billy McMacken
Special to The Brookings Register
The Brookings community was stunned recently by the sudden announcement that News Media Corporation — the Register’s longtime parent company — was shutting down operations in four states, including South Dakota. After decades of service to this community, it looked like the paper’s presses might go silent for good.
Then, almost as quickly as the news broke, the Champions stepped in. This week it has been announced that Champion Media is the new owner of the Register, plus three other papers in South Dakota.
I’ve known Corey Champion for a number of years now, and I’ve also gotten to know his dad, Scott. They are the kind of people who act decisively when it matters most. In this case, their quick action meant saving The Brookings Register from closure and preserving an irreplaceable voice for this community.
But here’s the truth: saving the paper is just the first step. Keeping it strong will take all of us.
I so appreciate the familiar faces I used to see stop in every year to pay their subscription bill. But over the years, too many people stopped taking the paper for various reasons. Advertising revenue declined each year, and like so many community newspapers, the Register was feeling the squeeze.
A community newspaper MUST be supported by the community it serves. It’s heartbreaking to see hordes of people on Facebook expressing sadness over the Register’s potential loss — when many of them were not, and have not been, subscribers. Words of support are meaningful, but subscriptions and advertising dollars are what keep the lights on and the presses rolling.
The Champions have given Brookings a second chance to keep its newspaper alive.
Now it’s up to the community to step up, subscribe, advertise, and make sure the Register remains a fixture for generations to come. To Corey, Scott, and the entire Champion Media team — thank you. You didn’t just buy a newspaper; you kept a community institution alive. I have every confidence the Register is in good hands, but its future depends on the people of Brookings rallying behind it.
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