OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES

Like my boss, I enjoy stopping at Kwik Trips when I am on the road, picking up the local newspaper in different communities to see what other newspapers put out each week, or each day. 

On Saturday, my wife and I went to my in-law’s house in rural Mankato, and we stopped at Kwik Trip for a pop and a snack. 

We were in Shakopee, and, of course, I mentioned to my wife “I would love to grab the local newspaper here, but their town doesn’t have one.”

I know this firsthand. When my wife and I moved here after getting married in 2022, I worked for a corporate owned chain of newspapers in the south metro suburbs of the Twin Cities – which included Shakopee. 

Then one day, we were all informed over a video conference call that all the papers would be closing down in a couple of weeks.

These included the communities of Savage, Shakopee, Jordan, Chaska, Chanhassen, and Prior Lake, along with some of the other surrounding communities who we served. 

Also closing was our sister paper in Litchfield, and the newspaper in boss man’s home area of Hutchinson.

Litchfield and Hutchinson had newspapers reopen owned by CherryRoad Media, but the rest of the communities – some of the largest and fastest growing in the state are still without newspapers years later. 

It is not just the loss of newspapers which is troubling – it is also the loss of people – particularly young people – who were disheartened to the point they left the profession altogether in a time when journalism is more important than ever. 

I admittedly have lost track of most people who were on the call with me that day when we got laid off, but my understanding is most aren’t in journalism anymore. 

Graham P. Johnson, who now works with our sister paper, Dodge County Independent, on a part-time basis, stayed in journalism, and I am ecstatic about it. 

The day I got laid off I was immensely blessed to be hired back by my former and current boss Rick Bussler.

I was hired by Bussler years ago as a 23-year-old guy from Rhode Island, who was working at his first job out of college as a reporter and editor for the St. James Plaindealer. The Plaindealer, funny enough, has been bought and sold twice since I left there in 2018 – and is now owned by CherryRoad Media as well. 

I was a kid back then, and knew nothing about Kasson or Dodge County, when I saw a job posting for his editor job at the Dodge County Independent. Admittedly at that point in my life the furthest east in Minnesota I had ever been is Mankato. 

Boss man, as I often refer to him as, and I spent over two hours on Facetime, discussing his vision for local news, what he was looking for, and how he had high expectations. 

It wasn’t that I was unhappy in St. James. I loved what I was doing, but I was young, ambitious, and I was sold on going to work for him. In fact, I was so convinced I turned down a job to work for a daily regional newspaper. 

After a bit of time, I left the paper to move back home to do something outside of journalism for a year. Again, I was young, and naive. 

Boss man could've held a grudge, but we stayed in touch years later and even got me tickets to the Twins when I got married. 

Shortly after getting laid off, one of the first calls I made was to boss man. I asked half-jokingly if he was looking for some help, and he said he would think about what the newspapers' needs were and would get back to me. 

I went to opening day for the Twins, as I had planned to that day, and then a couple of hours after the game I got a call from him. 

We came to an agreement that night. No hesitation, I said yes, because I only will ever work for people who believe in the importance of local news. 

In case you didn’t know, boss man is one of the only newspaper owners in this state to win weekly newspaper of the year twice.  How? Because he cares deeply about putting out a quality product week after week, and because of that, top journalists want to work for him. 

For the past year or so, I have been leading our Dodge County Independent newspaper, while also working as a staff writer for the Steele County Times. I have worked for a lot of people over the years, all who have different leadership styles. 

Boss man’s style is simple: he will support most things I implement so long as it is going to serve our readers better. 

This has given us the autonomy to be able to be aggressive in our coverage and expand our coverage. It allows us to run the appropriate number of pages each week to get the news of the week in the newspaper instead of waiting to have enough room in small newspapers. 

And I think readers appreciate this. 

People can get their news online to a certain extent sure – but I was reminded this weekend that not everyone is looking for that. 

My mother in-law is in her 70s and has been reading her hometown newspaper, the Mankato Free Press, every day since she was a kid. 

Each day, she then puts the newspapers to the side and keeps about a month’s worth, so she can go back and read previous stories as needed. 

Since I met her daughter – one of the first things I do when I go to her house is go through them and see what is going on in the region of the state I cut my teeth in. 

Her biggest gripe is that the paper is down to five days a week, and the paper has gone down to mostly 12 pages. 

She still continues to subscribe, and I suspect will until the day she dies. 

Speaking of death, she made a good point to me. 

Not as many people subscribe to the paper anymore, and so, she has become a go-to resource for many people – who are looking for printed obituaries. 

She believes strongly that everyone should have a printed copy of obituaries when a loved one dies. 

An example that really struck me recently was this: her ex-husband – my wife’s father died almost 15 years ago. 

Her three kids first thought wasn’t to cut out copies of his obituary, but she made sure to keep a copy for each of them, so they can have it forever. 

Newspapers are an important part of every community. Every reader has a reason for reading the newspaper whether it's picking it up randomly at Kwik Trip or reading it religiously every day. 

And I am proud of working for a news organization that cares deeply about putting out a great newspaper week after week.