And Here...We...Go!
Last week, I penned an article about the ongoing problem of media consolidation, using Paddock Publications’ pending $24 million sale of the Daily Herald to Alden Capital and Tribune Publishing as an example.
Initial reports, including from Chicago Media Journal, that this would only impact the Daily Herald itself, not the remainder of Paddock’s holdings.
That no longer appears to be the case.
The notice
An informational box appeared in this week’s issues of the Free Press-Progress in Nokomis, Golden Prairie News in Assumption, Blue Mound Leader, and Ramsey News-Journal.
They are quite uniform in their mutual language, using the example from the Free Press-Progress, the newspaper that has been operational in my community since 1877:
To our readers:
We regret to inform you that this will be your last issue of the Free Press-Progress. Going forward, you will be receiving the Pana News-Palladium, a publication with roots in the region that go back to 1887.
Now, wait a minute. You kill off the OLDEST newspaper in the newspaper group in favor of one that was established a decade later? That makes no sense to me.
Our dedicated staff…
…which has declined steadily since Paddock Publications purchased Pana News Inc. and its newspapers in 2017. What was originally a staff of 14 has declined through the COVID-19 pandemic down to 5 employees, and as of June 2026, down to one employee and a bunch of independent contractors working as stringers and advertising sales staff.
…has enjoyed covering this incredible community and getting to know the remarkable residents of Nokomis.
Until you lost the trust of the people of Nokomis when you uprooted local newsroom operations to consolidate them to one central location in Pana for five community newspapers.
We will continue to do so under the broader publication to better serve our readers.
I’m sorry, but do you expect me to believe that one person is going to get enough news coverage across five counties — Christian, Fayette, Macon, Montgomery, and Shelby — into one publication? At least attempt to change the name to better reflect the regions you now have to collectively cover in one newspaper…
Unfortunately, economic factors and challenges in the evolving media landscape brought us to this difficult decision to consolidate.
Sure, economic factors are a big issue, but don’t lean on that as a convenient excuse to justify closing down a newspaper. That’s the same excuse other newspapers have used in shuttering for the past two decades. Try a different song and dance for a change.
They go on about higher costs in recent years — spoiler alert: I’m impacted as well, but at least on some components in my own media operation, some of my costs are fixed and do not fluctuate — and mentions higher gas prices (thanks a lot, Donald Trump and his warmongering with Iran), higher newsprint prices (again, thanks a lot to the illegal tariffs the Trump Administration imposed), and other important raw materials.
…We did not come to this decision lightly.
Sorry to be crude, but I call bullshit. As someone who has contributed to most of these publications since 2013, it sounds like a rash decision by the Paddock Publications Board of Directors and a death sentence to what is supposed to be an employee-owned company, with the scrap heap that remains as of June 19.
Paddock Publications announced the purchase of Pana News Inc. from longtime owner Tom Phillips in 2017. Included in the sale were the Pana News-Palladium, Golden Prairie News, and the Free Press-Progress.
It was during the transitional period in the first year of Paddock ownership that the sister newspapers in Blue Mound and Ramsey were purchased, which shockingly wasn’t mentioned.
The rest of the announcement isn’t even worth reading, because it is essentially a cop-out trying to justify the decision.
