Grant will help newspaper operations
Funds will assist News Letter Journal in continuing to provide local news
The challenge of producing local news in an environment of rising costs and decreasing revenues has led to the disappearance of local journalism in many parts of rural America, but Weston County can breathe a little easier after Newcastle’s newspaper was one of about 200 media companies in the country chosen to receive a grant to aid in continuing its mission.
The News Letter Journal received word in September that the newspaper had received a $100,000 grant from the national coalition Press Forward, which seeks “to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news.” That funding will be distributed in two yearly allotments of $50,000 to support NLJ’s general operations, and NLJ leaders said it will give the newspaper breathing room that will allow them to continue operations without cutting services or increasing the cost of the newspaper anytime soon.
While many newspapers around the U.S. have had to stop operating in the past few decades, the News Letter Journal has been able to continue providing news for Weston County residents, and has even expanded to also offer news products on multiple online platforms.
Still, the NLJ is facing the same challenges impacting other newsrooms, such as printing and mailing a weekly newspaper while costs for both increase and support for printed newspapers fades.
Like other businesses, the NLJ grapples with the cost of keeping technology modern and rising fuel and utility costs, but the local newspaper is also hindered by drastically decreased advertising revenue from a shrinking business community. The owners’ willingness to commit resources and manpower to making an office supply and printing shop available to the community also presents challenges, according to Managing Editor Kim Dean.
The newspaper employs a staff of 25, both part-time and full-time personnel, and Dean recently began discussing with them the possibility that they would have to raise the price of the paper, which is currently $1, to continue to make ends meet.
“We value our loyal customers and subscribers and realize they are facing rising costs just as we are, so this grant really helps us continue to serve them and our community,” Dean said after News Letter Journal Publisher Bob Bonnar announced a freeze on subscription and advertising prices in recognition of the grant’s contribution to the newspaper’s bottom line.
The NLJ was one of 205 grant recipients selected from among 931 applicants, and the NLJ was the only Wyoming news outlet to receive one of the grants, according to Press Forward’s website. Grant recipients had to have an operating budget of less than $1 million for 2024, had to have been publishing since at least Sept. 1, 2023, and be committed to “editorial excellence, editorial independence, and transparency.”
Press Forward awarded a total of $20 million in grants, which are designed to support “smaller news organizations that are providing the hyperlocal, original reporting people need to make important decisions.”
“The News Letter Journal plays a vital role in Weston County, providing the trusted local news and information that people need to make decisions about their daily lives,” Press Forward Director Dale Anglin said in an email. “The News Letter Journal has a long history in Wyoming, and we’re excited to see how the staff is seeking out new revenue sources to ensure it can continue its mission.”
Anglin said that one of the toughest challenges for news outlets, whether they’re in rural communities or urban areas, is sustainability and finding “the right mix” of revenue streams.
“For most of the past century, news outlets didn’t need philanthropy
and grant funds to exist. The advertising model provided for a healthy business,” she said. “Today, the business model has changed, but the need for trusted local news has not. As community members, we need to support our local news outlets to ensure they survive.”
News outlets are able to use the grant money “as they see fit,” Anglin said.
“Many, like the News Letter Journal, are using it to diversify and strengthen their revenue streams so that they can be more resilient and sustainable,” she said. “We’re looking forward to seeing the results.”
From Anglin’s perspective, community news facilitates healthy communities.
“Through our local news outlets, we learn about our local candidates and where to vote, how to volunteer and when to raise an issue with our City Council,” she said. “In these times where many communities are divided, local news can help us understand each other better.”
Bonnar said that when he reviewed the grant opportunity, he interpreted it as an impetus for antiquated media models to transform themselves into bringing news to the community in people’s preferred methods, and he believes the NLJ has “taken incredible strides in that direction” since the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the newspaper, the NLJ offers a weekly e-newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast, Facebook page, and X feed.
“We have actually started to have regional impact, as far as a media outlet goes, and out of a little town like Newcastle, Wyoming, I think that’s pretty cool,” he said. “That’s a credit to all the people who work for us, and it’s credit to little old Newcastle, Wyoming, that they can produce that talent. It’s also a credit to the other talented people who work remotely for me.”
Bonnar said part of “the secret” to the NLJ’s success is its hybrid business model. Many newspapers can’t hire enough talent locally, but he has supplemented local talent by hiring team members who don’t live in Newcastle.
He believes that the committee that evaluated NLJ saw the team as innovative and rewarded it for adapting to modern news consumption, news gathering and news distribution.
However, the company hasn’t yet been able to produce much additional revenue from its multimedia offerings, according to Bonnar, who feels the grant will allow the NLJ to continue operating at its current size and maintaining all of those news platforms. Much of the grant money will be invested in equipment upgrades designed to both improve the products and help the staff be more efficient in creating them. That is especially true for the contributions of photojournalist and videographer Walter Sprague’s work.
“What we’ve done with our video arm is something that I think a lot of other newspapers would love to be able to do,” Bonnar said.
Some video quality will improve within a month, according to Bonnar, who believes people will be able to tell the difference. He said replacing outdated equipment that staff are currently employing to produce the newspaper will make it easier for staff to achieve the caliber of newspaper quality that the company has provided for the community — and find ways to make it even better. For example, Bonnar’s laptop dates back to 2013.
“We’re still one of the best newspapers in the country even with poor equipment, so I think we’ll get better. Mostly it’s just going to be a little easier for us, and it will remove financial pressures, which will let us do more moving forward, but I haven’t identified exactly what that ‘more’ is yet,” he said.
He thinks it will be very valuable to use some of the funds to access additional training opportunities for staff. He feels it will improve the quality of both the News Letter Journal’s products and service
“To be honest, I need to get some training for myself,” he said. “We have been innovating, but that sort of means we’ve been making it up as we go, and I could really use some training personally to improve all of what we’re doing.”
Bonnar said he has been and will continue to seek more funding sources because the community’s residents and businesses don’t have sufficient funding to independently provide the traditional revenue to operate a truly effective modern media company, but he is greatly encouraged by the newspaper’s selection for this first round of Press Forward grant funding.
“A lot of newspapers that started accessing grants had been getting philanthropic donations, so I had actively been looking for another funding source, too,” Bonnar said. “It would be nice to get a permanent one, but I’ll take two years (of funding) for now.”
He believed the NLJ’s application was strong, but admits he wasn’t sure whether the company would receive a grant because he didn’t know for sure what Press Forward was looking for in an applicant. He was relieved to receive the grant because he believes the funding provides him and the staff with more time to find new ways to produce the revenue necessary to continue serving the residents of Weston County at the level they deserve — and have come to expect.
“It’s hard to keep government accountable without a newspaper in the community,” Bonnar reasoned, saying he is grateful for the community’s support and thankful that the grant allows the NLJ to continue providing the community with award-winning media coverage.
“This grant recognized that it was important that the rural parts of the country like Weston County be well represented by an active press that challenges government and ensures accountability to the people,” Bonnar said. “So, if you ask what we’re going to do with this for two years, we’re going to keep doing that because — you know what? — I think we’re pretty dang good at that. I think this grant award recognized that as well — not just that we’re innovative, but that we’ve got the courage to hold government accountable to challenge them and to be that advocate for the people.”