It’s a significant period of change that all too many communities might be ill-prepared to adapt to. And all of this has had measurable effects on the ability of those newspapers to act as watchdogs on local and state governments and cover the happenings in a community. Hometown families that spent generations in the business are selling their publications to big national chains. Newspapers are cutting staffers, outsourcing once-local functions such as printing and design while trying to maintain local coverage. Here’s the thing: What’s happening in Hutchinson is occurring elsewhere in Kansas, particularly in the largest counties. “It creates a challenge to get the schedule out,” she says. “We’ve talked to so many people who have dropped their subscription, so the newspaper is less reliable as a way of getting the word out.”īetty agrees. “It used to be everybody would get the newspaper, and the newspaper would be the way to get the word out to everybody,” James says. And when it comes time to promote the horticulture club’s activities, he says, an ad in the paper just isn’t as effective as it once was. James says he can tell that fewer people know or understand what’s going on in city government. The paper’s reduced circumstances have had consequences. The couple say The Hutch News is still a vital part of their community. (Update: In November, New Media Investment Group merged with Gannett to become the largest newspaper in the country and, according to The New York Times, plans to target “inefficiencies.”)īetty and James Taylor are active participants in the Hutchinson community and political scene they’re both members of the local horticulture club, and she sits on the board of the Reno County Museum. It’s also a holding company for New Media Investment Group, an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, one of three hedge funds making headlines for overseeing what critics call the gutting of newspapers. The pace of change at the paper, residents say, sped up after the ownership of the newspaper changed hands in December 2016 from a family-owned, Kansas-based chain to GateHouse Media, an upstate New York firm that is one of the largest publishers of local media in the U.S. But many of the most drastic changes to the depth and breadth of the newspaper’s coverage are a recent phenomenon. The changes, Deming says, are understandable: In recent years, the News has slashed its reporting staff the journalists who are left, he says, “don’t have the time to do as much in-depth work as they did previously.”Īt a time when newspapers have been struggling nationwide for years, such changes might hardly seem like, well, news. The paper, he says, covers meetings “pretty well.” But, he adds, “there is not much perspective on what’s being done or asking the second or third question to get to the bottom of what’s really going on.” “More often than not, it’s just a listing of the things the council acted upon.”ĭan Deming, a former member of the Reno County Commission – and a former general manager of local radio station KWBW – agrees. Nancy Soldner, a member of the Hutchinson City Council, says she notices the difference in stories about council meetings. And the stories that remain often have less depth to them. Talk to folks around town, and they agree: There are fewer stories to read in The Hutchinson News. In Hutchinson, there’s not so much news in the newspaper these days. Part Three: Why Everyone Loses When Newspapers Struggle Part One: Hutchinson’s Changing News Climate Part Two: A Changing Landscape for Newspaper Ownership Part One: Hutchinson’s Changing News Climate In any event, such reduced coverage presents dire challenges for communities across the state, many of whom might not yet fully understand what they’re losing. But company officials contend they’re trimming to save journalism. Some readers have noticed The Hutchinson News and its staff thinning since GateHouse Media took over the newspaper in 2016. As the financial challenges facing Kansas newspapers grow, a marked shift toward out-of-state ownership is rearranging the landscape.
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