Newspapers inform, entertain, bring communities together

"Another city replaces lost newspaper" was the headline of a letter to the editor that was brought to the DCI office last week. The Lake County Press was starting up after its former owner shuttered the Lake County News-Chronicle in 2020.

In fact, the company that created the Lake County Press bought seven weekly newspapers from Gannett, the owners of many dailies and the USAToday. Included in the acquisition are: Montevideo American News, St. James Plaindealer, Redwood Falls Gazett, Granite Falls Advocate-Tribune, the Tri-County News in Cottonwoods, and the Crookston Times.

So what’s so important that one company, CherryRoad, would buy up or restart a weekly newspaper?

Jeremy Gulban, chief executive officer of CherryRoad Media, said it best, “I think that a weekly newspaper is really the kind of institution that brings the community together, keeps the community informed and entertained and really is the fabric of the community in a lot of ways.”

Just in the past week, we have brought to our reader’s attention the Ride for Wyatt, Reese Tripp signing a letter of intent to be a part of the Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive line, sports scores and photos of athletes from K-M, Byron, Hayfield, Triton and much more. While some of that pops up on Facebook or other social media platforms, the DCI covers things more thoroughly.

CherryRoad has been acquiring newspapers in Arkansas, Alabama Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado. All of this was called to our attention when a reader dropped off that letter to the editor from another newspaper.

“There’s not a lot of ways other than social media to share information or news, or to find out what’s going on in the area,” said Jackie Rennwald, operations director of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce in commenting to a reporter from the Star Tribune on getting their weekly newspaper back.

Social media has been great, to a point. However, one must question the trustworthiness of all social media applications.

“I think a newspaper is more reliable. It’s got credibility,” Rennwald stated. Never having met Ms. Rennwald, I must agree with her assessment. Your weekly newspaper is where you will find news about your town, school, church, and local sports. It’s where you’ll read about Reese Tripp signing a letter of intent to join.

For generations the Carlsen family reported the goings on in Dodge County. Something was lost when the Carlsen’s passed the torch of ownership.

Since 2019, the staff of the Dodge County Independent has been working tirelessly to build back the confidence readers have in the weekly newspaper.

After reading this letter to the editor and then investigating the company that is buying up weekly newspapers in the Gopher state and beyond, I am encouraged to press on and gain the confidence that you, our readers have in the DCI.

I am asking for our readers to give us feedback. How are we doing? Give us the good, the bad, and the ugly truth about how we’re doing.

NEWSPAPERS

The devil’s aversion to holy water is a light matter compared with a despot’s dread of a newspaper that laughs.

Mark Twain