HURON After a long week of putting the final touches on a deal to keep open the four South Dakota newspapers which had been shuttered by News Media Corporation on Wednesday, August 6, the final papers were signed on Friday, August 15, to keep all four South Dakota papers open.
Todays Plainsman is the first printed edition under the ownership of Champion Media. Champion Media is headquartered in North Carolina and, before this purchase, had a roster of 26 newspapers in five states, with the significant majority of those newspapers being weekly papers.
Chief Financial Officer Corey Champion and Chief Executive Officer Scott Champion spent Monday and Tuesday visiting all four papers, including a stay overnight in Huron on Monday evening.
Weve always been a fan of the Midwest, Corey expressed, stating that he grew up in a small town on the Iowa/Illinois border. I have a passion for communities (like Huron), and I hate when I see a newspaper, especially when there are no other forms of media to cover the news in an area.
He continued, When I hear of a closure affecting a small community, I want to check to see if there is something that we can do to help fill the news desert void in that community.
Corey is the third generation of his family to work in the newspaper business. He went to the University of Iowa for college for an accounting degree, then worked in mergers and acquisitions for a time before joining Champion Media in 2017 to spearhead growth through acquisitions.
Despite growth in the company since that time, Corey takes pride in Champion being a mobile company.
We try to be just big enough to handle support for all of our local communities on the business side of things, so they can focus on what they do best, inform their communities, Champion said. Everything else that goes on behind the scenes in running the business, we try to support (our papers) in any way we can.
When asked what he had seen in his visits to the papers in South Dakota that Champion could help with, Corey smiled and sat forward in his chair.
I see a lot of things at each location that we can do to help the papers come into the 21st century, Champion responded. We have a digital focus to allow our readers and advertisers to submit to us 24 hours a day, and for us to reach our readers wherever they are. We enhance our digital offerings, but we also know that our print is our bread and butter.
Champion Media has dipped its toe into support software development for its newspapers, Corey explained. For instance, the software theyre developing would allow someone to submit a rummage sale advertisement on the newspapers website, and it would automatically calculate and charge for that ad, format it for print, and list the rummage sale on the papers online classified section.
The coordination between digital and print is evident in the pricing.
We dont offer one rate for digital and one rate for print, Champion remarked. We have one rate. If you want the print, you get the digital as well. That goes for advertising as well.
On the subject of pricing, Corey emphasized that Champion Media will honor all current subscriptions through the current term of the subscription.
The Huron community suffered a significant shock when the possibility of losing its community newspaper became a reality, if just for a short time.
Corey made his pitch toward advertisers based on the importance of local news.
First and foremost, we want our advertisers to get value for their money, he expressed. But we also want advertisers to know that youre not just advertising; youre supporting local journalism.
Champion noted that the printing press in Huron was an asset in the deal, but immediately, he wanted to make some changes to ensure no print employee would lose their job.
Thats why we are printing all four papers here in Huron, Corey explained. We knew going from five papers to two for Huron and Brookings could end up with the print area not having enough work to sustain its employees.
Beyond the four newspapers, Champion says that he would welcome business from other weekly papers.
If we can work them into our existing print schedule, absolutely, he nodded. We would love to print for a number of weeklies in the area.
Champion CEO Scott Champion says that he encountered a number of Huron residents who were excited to have the paper running again.
The community response has been great, he smiled. We are very excited to get going!
Leave a Reply