In this week's edition of The Claxton Enterprise, owner and publisher Mickey Peace announced his plans to cease publication of the community's only source of local news. After 52 years, at 77 years old and the only reporter on staff, the time has come to stop publication of the weekly newspaper, he said.
Over the last few days, I have received countless phone calls, emails, and messages asking me to consider bringing Grice Connect back "home" to Evans County.
Hundreds of Evans County residents already depend on Grice Connect as their daily source of local news. In giving this serious consideration, I feel it is important to share the challenges of expanding our operations to Claxton.
I started Grice Connect after our newspaper reduced coverage to three days a week. It is now only published weekly. My goal was to fill the gaps left by the reduction of news coverage. We now have a team over over 20 reporters delivering local news, sports, events and obituaries to hundreds of thousands of readers monthly.
In fact, over 30,000 subscribe to our Bulloch Daily online newspaper, delivered to their inbox at 6:00 a.m., seven days a week.
Local news sustainability challenge
With all of that reader success, we too struggle with sustainability. Salaries and operational costs range in the tens of thousands per month. With less than .01 percent of Statesboro and Bulloch businesses and fewer than 1.0% of readers supporting us financially on a monthly basis, we have to rely on grants and funding from outside of the community to support our work. This is not a viable, long term solution.
Everyone wants local news, but few are willing to pay for it. At the same time, over 40% of local businesses spend the majority of their advertising budgets on social media advertising to companies who care nothing about the viability of our communities.
At Grice Connect, we join hundreds of digital news operations throughout the world trying to figure out a path of sustainability to rescue local news. When a community loses its local news, they lose their identity and their source of stability. Our goal is to create a product that will work to replenish diminished local news in any market in America.
In addition to funding, we also struggle to recruit and retain talented journalists. A partnership with Georgia Southern University has brought some talent into our operation through an paid intern program. We have hope that this will help us bridge the talent gap.
Legal Organ Status
Another challenge is legal organ status. Currently, the Georgia Legal Organ law is written to only allow printed newspapers to be the legal organ. Seven states have updated their laws to allow for online news operations to become a legal organ. Georgia is not one of them.
This law has forced local governments and law firms to place legal ads in newspapers in other communities, often miles away. Earlier this year, when the Long County Press ceased operation, The Journal Sentinel in Redisville became the Legal Organ. This has happened in all of the counties where the newspaper has closed.
In some communities, ghost newspapers have popped up. These operators do the bare minium to capture the Legal Organ revenue.
This blocks other news operations, like Grice Connect, from receiving revenue that would help sustain a true local news organization in a community.
Local newspapers vanishing
Unfortunately, operating a local newspaper has become an almost insurmountable challenge. The introduction of the iPhone in 2006 and social media platforms like Facebook have shifted the way people get their news.
This past year alone, 130 newspapers have shut their doors. And 3,296 newspapers have vanished since 2005. The ones that remain have dramatically changed their operations, shrinking their staff and coverage.
Most once daily papers are now published only weekly. Georgia has 19 counties with no local news source and 117 counties with only one local news source.
A high bar
One of the greatest challenges with following Mickey, Pam, and Paula McNeely is the extraordinarily high bar they have set. The citizens of Evans County certainly take for granted the quality of the publication they receive each week. Their love for Claxton and Evans County will be difficult to replicate, much less replace.
I can't remember a week that I have not read The Claxton Enterprise. In fact, it is the model we use at Grice Connect as an example of how local news should be covered in a community.
Recently, I had lunch with Mickey and Pam and shared my admiration for their work as the source for local news. I also shared with them one of my fondest and favorite memories of growing up in Claxton was the Letters to Santa published annually by The Claxton Enterprise. It was an extra special treat when Tommy Palmer or Don Sports at WCLA would pick your Letter to Santa to read on the radio. They told me that they continue to print the Letters to Santa annually. Now that is a commitment.
Evans County history
For more than 112 years, The Claxton Enterprise has been the guardian of history. From births to deaths and all of life lived between 'the dash,' The Claxton Enterprise has recorded that history. The Peaces have thoughtfully worked with the University of Georgia to accept and maintain their archives, ensuring Evans County history will be available for generations to explore -- no matter what happens to their publication.
A debt of gratitude
Regardless of what happens with The Claxton Enterprise, Claxton and Evans County owe the Peaces and Pam McNeely a tremendous debt of gratitude. The sacrifices of time and money to make sure the paper continues its important work for over five decades has not been an easy one.
This level of commitment to their community should not go unnoticed. Hopefully, community leaders will come together to bid them a well deserved farewell as they move on to the next chapter of their lives.
Next steps
Over the next few weeks, my team will continue to communicate with business and political leaders along with civic minded individuals to discuss a viable path forward, to bring a daily digital news operation to Evans County.
I encourage anyone willing to invest or assist in any way in rescuing local news in Claxton to reach out to me directly at [email protected]
