As I leave the Register — and journalism — to start a new adventure with Thrive Allen County, I’ve been reflecting on the past 28 years in the industry.
My career started in 1997 with an entry-level job as a typesetter at a weekly newspaper in Garnett. Back then, people submitted hand-written announcements for births, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, scholarships, club meeting minutes and other community news. And, of course, obituaries.
Pages and pages to summarize an entire life. Typing all that content was a full-time job. We still get a hand-written submission on occasion but now, typing is optional. I can use the “dictate” function in Word and speak it into existence.
I entered the newspaper world in the early days of desktop publishing, when printouts replaced pasteboard. I saw the dawn of digital photography and wow, those first photos looked terrible in print. We didn’t know how to archive and backup files. The internet was in its infancy, a revolution on the cusp.
Before Google, I did my research in libraries. I scoured phone books to track down sources and even knocked on doors. Before auto-correct, I kept a printout on my desk with a long list of “Komminly Misspelt Wurds” such as boutonniere, paraphernalia and occur.
I used to adhere to rigid grammar rules and stuck to AP Style until I accepted a simple fact: Language evolves. Or as they say in Old English: spraec weaxao.
THE 2008 recession created a crisis in the news industry.
The housing and banking collapse wiped out real estate and automotive advertising. Online “marketplaces” replaced classifieds. Social media wooed our readers. Revenue tanked; the workforce shrank.
Digital news was new, and nobody knew what to do. I think we set a dangerous precedent by giving away our product for free in the early days. But what’s a better model? I’m not sure anyone truly knows, even now.
Corporate media and tech companies, meanwhile, gobbled up newspapers across the country, often gutting content for profit. The cost of newsprint soared and plants shuttered. Dailies became weeklies, then “online only” or ceased publication entirely. Some turned to a non-profit structure.
And that’s just scratching the surface.
A 2024 Northwestern University study estimated the U.S. has lost one-third of its newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalism jobs since 2005. We’re losing 2.5 newspapers each week, according to the Associated Press.
It all happened so fast. The only constant is change. Spraec weaxao.
Seven years ago, when the time came for me to grow in a new direction, I found the Iola Register. And it has been a privilege to work here.
The Register is a unicorn in this industry: A five-generation family-owned newspaper in a small, rural community, offering traditional print five days a week as well as a robust website. Publishers Susan Lynn and Tim and Violeta Stauffer continue to fight the good fight in spite of many challenges. Just two weeks ago, they spoke in front of county commissioners about the value of public notices. It’s an argument made again and again, by Tim and other publishers in Kansas and across the country.
Yes, the current state of the news industry has some bearing on my decision to change careers. But it’s not the entire story.
I believe in newspapers. The industry will continue to adapt, evolve and survive, as it has since the Romans published the first version in 59 BCE. As it has since Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1440s. And since I wrote my first news article about a Kincaid farmer’s soil conservation award in 1998.
