Interesting article on local newspapers that still succeed. The top 25 by circulation, mainly digital now, include a few in the expected places like LA and Chicago, but the list is dominated by much smaller cities. The author notes that several of those smaller city papers are owned by the Newhouse chain, including Harrisburg.
When I lived in PA in the late 80s I enjoyed newspapers, and I especially liked the Harrisburg paper. I hated the NYTimes for NON-political reasons. I was an establishment Democrat then, so I should have loved it. I’m a typesetter and proofreader before and beyond all surface political crap, and the NYTimes was ATROCIOUSLY edited and printed. Unreadable font, sloppy inking, errors at all levels. Harrisburg was a quality product with all the features I want in a newspaper.
This article says Harrisburg was owned by Newhouse in the 80s, so the current popularity of Newhouse products doesn’t surprise me!
KEY POINT: Newhouse is ABLE to maintain quality because it’s family owned, not aiming for Holy Share Value or whoring for a buyout by Sam or Elon or Marc.
Newhouse follows the old Fordist rules. Cut costs where you can, DON’T short the employees or quality. Newhouse keeps large human staffs while others are firing and AIing.
Polistra's Mill 