Did you notice the cover of the most recent American Journalism Review? It features five reader teasers, the largest asking “Is There Life After Newspapers?”

My response to some of my co-workers was “Does the American Journalism Review, Editor & Publisher and the Columbia Journalism Review understand publishing exists beyond metro daily newspapers?” Hey, AJR, many community papers are not only surviving, they’re also thriving.

Not all newspapers are failing. Not all of us should be judged and brought down by the continuing bad press given the condition of some chains and specific metro publications.

Although our company advertising sales were down during fiscal 2008, The N’West Iowa Review is currently exceeding last year’s figures for the first four months of this business year. Sure, it hasn’t been easy. Our sales, editorial and creative departments have had to work even harder to achieve those results, but that seems to be true of every local business. Interestingly, the same day my American Journalism Review arrived, an Internet site reported that community papers, overall, where only down an average of 2 percent from a year ago.

The biggest problem for community papers continues to be a lack of understanding regarding the difference between local papers and major metro publications. Many community papers are still owned and published by individuals or couples filled with a passion for publishing and driven by a strong desire to serve the local community.

One Michigan publisher told me the most striking difference while I was a presenting at the February Michigan Press Convention. “Local owners aren’t encumbered by corporate chains of command,” he said. “They can make immediate decisions to respond to a sudden local need or take advantage of a specific economic opportunity.”

I read a report recently that suggested the successful future metro daily would come out only one day a week. That paper would include all the important news of the week, detailed sports coverage, a wide variety of interesting features and all the local school calendars and entertainment suggestions wanted by its readers. It would have all the best features of a daily paper but come out just once every week. “Wow,” I thought, “that’s what we’re doing with The N’West Iowa Review every Saturday right now.”

There is no question community papers will need to change to survive. But that’s hardy new. We’ve gone through many changes the last decades: Central printing, computer design, more detailed accounting and improved approaches to covering and reporting the news. Many of us have also expanded online, but more about that later.

New approach

At Iowa Information we’re experimenting with an entirely new form of community paper, the South O’Brien Sun. This all new publication premiered last Labor Day when a small community, which had seen their paper closed a year earlier, asked us to fill the void.

What we offered was a 16-page tabloid, every other week, delivered only to individuals in the school district who subscribed to The N’West Iowa Review. By inserting tabloid into The Review — to a very select distribution area — we made the new paper cost effective with reduced printing and distribution cost.

Members of the community stepped forward to help with the news gathering and feature writing. The community mayor regularly produces the “Remember When” column and a local housewife writes a newsy “What’s Cooking” feature. Iowa Information’s news department is responsible for most of the news and photography but others help there, too. There’s a e-mail address for submitted features and photographs and the community journalism department produces two pages of school news every issue. The first issue of each month they cover high school news and the second issue the grade and middle school. The tabloid publication usually hits 16 pages with the front page and at least three more in process color.

Paid circulation in the South O’Brien Sun’s distribution area increased by over 180 homes during the first month. Each edition produces an average of $1,600.00 in additional revenue from a region where we usually saw zero weekly sales most weeks before.

The community says they are delighted with the compromise every-other-week newspaper. The town’s bank president, at a recent community meeting, promised to have a presence in every edition and urged the other businesses to do the same. “We know what it is like to be without a paper,” he said, “and now we have a good one. Let’s make sure we keep them through our support.”

The South O’Brien Sun is a beta project for us at Iowa Information. If it continues as projected, we anticipate possibly publishing up to five other such specific area sections covering other small communities without local newspapers.

There’s more

Such is the future of community journalism. Tomorrow remains bright for many well managed, cost conscious newspapers willing to react with a quality product, extensive local coverage and exceptional effort. That really means being a convergence company providing local news and sports in a paid newspaper, unique information in additional free or paid publications and even more diverse information with on-line products.

But even well published local papers cannot stand alone. Unless the national publishing industry remains strong our local papers won’t prevail. We need a united front. The National Newspaper Association and NNA Foundation have never been more necessary. Your foundation leaders are working to help members meet current economic downfalls but we can’t do it alone. We need your input on ways to develop our introductory programs to best serve interested participants. America’s community papers are at a crossroads. We can be swept into “the sky is falling” concept being applied to so many daily papers or we can stand tall and move forward.

Peter W. Wagner is president of the National Newspaper Association Foundation and publisher of The N’West Iowa Review in Sheldon, Iowa. He earlier spent nine years as a member of the National Newspaper Association Board of Directors and a regular trainer at newspaper conferences and conventions.