After almost 50 years serving the Athens community, The Athens News has officially shut down shortly after ending its print edition earlier this year.
In a February interview, former Adams Multimedia Regional President Paul Reynolds attributed the end of printing to the waning amount of advertising support for the free publication.
Adams MultiMedia, owner of The Athens News, is a family-owned community newspaper company that owns publications in 20 states, including The Athens Messenger.
Anna Millar, an editor at The Messenger, wrote in an email that The Messenger and The Athens News share the same staff, all of whom will keep their roles at The Messenger, despite its closure.
The Athens News has been a free publication since 1977, while The Athens Messenger, established in 1848, requires an online subscription.
Corrine Colbert, Athens County Independent editor, and Terry Smith, a former editor at The Athens News, expressed distaste for the closure of The Athens News.
In a “Letter From the Editor,” Colbert claimed large corporations are monopolizing local journalism, limiting media consumers’ choices and making workers and consumers increasingly poorer, while making executives and investors wealthier.
Smith wrote an Op-Ed after finding that issues and articles published under his leadership were no longer available for free. He suggested Adams MultiMedia donate the archives to free, searchable forums, such as Ohio University libraries.
Currently, archives of The Athens News can be found on The Messenger's website, allowing readers access to three articles per month without a subscription.
However, Clarice Touhey, regional president of Adams Multimedia, emphasized the importance of making money to continue operating the company’s platforms.
“We are not a non-profit, so we are in a race, and we have to keep providing the content that we provide," Touhey said. "We need to be able to get money to be perfectly honest."
Jim Phillips, editor of The Logan Daily News and The Perry County Tribune, highlighted that local journalism is going increasingly digital to keep up with modern media consumption and advertising trends.
“I think everybody in the industry is concerned right now,” Phillips said. “I mean, you have to be sort of sleepwalking and not to be aware of this array of issues that’s facing traditional journalism that's been discussed endlessly and continues to be discussed.”
Unreliability has become synonymous with technology, according to Phillips, making it harder to build trust with readers on digital platforms.
“All I can do is try to counter that with what I produce as a journalist,” Phillips said. “I mean, I can't convince people that I'm honest or unbiased, but I can try to produce reporting that embodies that.”
In turn, Touhey emphasized taking a digital-first approach to media distribution. He said The Messenger reaches 500,000 people in the Southeast Ohio area through its website, newsletters and social media.
However, Touhey still plans to have local newspapers in Ohio, including The Messenger, to focus on hyperlocal topics, so consumers can learn more about issues that affect their day-to-day life.
"We've done more collaboration, especially in the Southeast area,” Touhey said. “We call the papers from Circleville, all the way down to Waverly. There's a lot more content collaboration because things that impact our state impact what taxes we pay and the prices we're paying for goods and services.”
