COLUMN: Anamosa newspaper is closing

   Word came down last week that the Anamosa Journal-Eureka was abruptly closing its doors, ending 167 years of publishing news, sports and advertising.

   The sudden closure caught many in the community off guard. That’s putting it mildly.

   Along with the closing of the AJ-E, the Dubuque-based ownership company also closed the Linn News-Letter and sold off the Solon and Mount Vernon-Lisbon newspapers to a non-profit group that owns the Daily Iowan, the college newspaper for the University of Iowa. The purchase price for both was said to be minimal.

   This hits close to home. With the closing of the Journal-Eureka that leaves the Express as the only county newspaper. Even though at times we competed with the AJ-E, we also combined on several projects over the years, had an ad sharing program at one time and my father-in-law, Bob Goodyear, owned part of the AJ-E. Bob would be bumming if he was still around.

   Plus, I never want to see a community lose its newspaper. I’ll be honest, I’m not surprised to see the AJ-E fold. This business is fueled by advertising sales, not subscriptions (although you have to have subscribers reading those ads).

   The AJ-E wasn’t carrying enough advertising to pay its bills. That’s not a guess on my part, I could do the math, knowing how much it costs to print a newspaper and mail it out each week. Now add in payroll, taxes etc.

   When Anamosa got its new Fareway, that was a difference-maker. Weekly grocery inserts not only helped with subscriptions, it also drove in other advertisers that wanted their ads to be seen alongside of the grocery store flyer. When Theisen’s ended its local insertion of its flyers, that was probably the beginning of the end.

   To put the blame on just two businesses wouldn’t be fair (but from a personal standpoint, I know how much that has affected us too). There are other ways to drive advertising sales to keep the doors open. I’d even argue against some of the Journal-Eureka’s decisions that have gone on even before local ownership ceased to exist.

   Now the big question facing us over here in Monticello is, how do we respond? We’ve been fielding dozens of calls and emails asking us just that, in addition to a spike in new subscribers from the Anamosa area.

   First off, we’re not going to buy the AJE. Secondly, any decisions we make will be made with my staff’s current workload in mind. We will not be hiring any additional staff.

   We have discussed some ideas for sports coverage. Replicating what their sports editor, Daryl Schepanski, did over there will be an impossible feat. Pete has some ideas on that in his column today.

   We already have the county news and the records page in the Express and we do cover events in that direction.

   I have also sent letters to all the Jones County cities and schools requesting to be named their official paper so they can continue to publish their legal notices.

   We will welcome submissions of births, weddings, engagements and obituaries. And in the meantime, we will hope someone steps up to the plate and keeps the doors open in Anamosa.

   Unfortunately, that window is small for a couple reasons. The AJE, like all Iowa newspapers that are receiving legals and mailing at their post office, the paper must be mailed 50 out of 52 weeks a year before they lose those privileges.

   (After the writing of this column, it has come to our attention that there may be a company interested in the AJE. I’ve decided to print this anyway just in case that deal doesn’t happen.)

   Here is a Mark Twain quote that I like. It doesn’t tie into what is happening in Anamosa but relates to our industry. “I never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel or paper by the ton.’ One more: “A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.”

   Have a great week, everyone!