By Miles Layton

Listening to ABBA now, thinking of Athens, Ohio. … I miss you folks. Go Bobcats and Bulldogs!  

After 49 years, the Athens News printed its last edition this past Wednesday. Its future is uncertain. That’s too bad. 

And good job (sarcasm), Athens Messenger, owned by the same company as the Athens News, on announcing that to the community, except that you didn’t say much of anything. Even if you weren’t a news outlet or perhaps inspired to report on what was once your longtime rival’s demise, word got out, always does. 

Here’s what was posted to the Athens News during Sunday’s snowstorm – Based on direction from Adams Multimedia, the ANews is no longer being printed in hardcopy. The company hopes to bring the publication to a more digital-forward format and thanks the community for their patience as our editorial team waits for further direction on its future format. As of now, the ANews website will receive a weekly update with the most relevant community articles from The Athens Messenger.

I used to be Region Editor, overseeing the Athens Messenger, Athens News, Circleville Herald, etc., etc. 

I wanted the company, certainly these newspapers, to succeed – my wife and I worked long hours building relationships, writing stories and helping communities get their stories told. 

We were especially passionate about the Athens News – knew its history and importance to the town, and we felt the same way about the Athens Messenger, certainly other titles in Southeast Ohio.

Like me, there were days that my wife, who was editor of the Athens Messenger/News, would get to work early around 7ish, then work a full shift, followed by covering an Athens City Council meeting or public event – 10-12 hour shift was common. Weekend work was common.   

But in the end, after working long, very long hours, “Stand Up” from the movie “Harriet” was my theme song during those final days, as my wife and I plotted our escape from that dumpster fire in Athens media.  

For what it’s worth, here’s my take.   

I know the corporate folks read my stuff – so maybe pay attention to what I’m about to say because it’s the same in many of your markets. 

I don’t blame the employees or even the publisher for trying their best with the hand they were dealt – instead, I blame corporate media mismanagement.     

This didn’t need to happen. Athens sustained two newspapers for nearly 50 years through good times and bad – that’s remarkable in a small city in rural Southeast Ohio. 

You can blame increasing costs on paper tariffs or dwindling demand for print products because of technology changes in readership, but the fact remains that the publications failed to keep pace with the times. Being that most newspapers are monopolies, more or less, your failure is all the more spectacular.  

Here’s where you went wrong – same as other media properties that you manage, same as other media conglomerates across the nation.   

Company was never a big fan of the Athens News – it wasn’t making enough money. I fought to keep it open — that did not make me any friends in upper management.  

Selfishly, I’m glad I wasn’t around to hammer the final nail into the Athens News’ coffin. I don’t think I could’ve done that.  

Upper management didn’t understand what the Athens News represented, so it was often dubbed “Frankenstein” because it blended news and entertainment — that’s why there were so many stupid rebrands.

Though there was crossover, the company never grasped that the Athens News and the Athens Messenger catered to two separate readership and ad bases. 

The Athens News would’ve closed sooner but for the advertising inserts that attracted a dwindling number of businesses that wanted to advertise in a free newspaper. And ad sales were dismal — many editions had wide open pages.  

Have you seen the wide-open spaces in the pages of the Athens Messenger or most other corporate-managed newspapers? Wow! Only a matter of time before it’s all digital, much like other newspapers – big newspapers – across the country. Google Pittsburgh…  

For several years, Athens News’ ad rates were the same as Athens Messenger’s – no business was going to pay a premium to advertise in a free, weekly publication vs. a subscriber-based, three-day-a-week newspaper. Think about that for a moment. Two different products, but no one noticed or cared. Set up to fail? When an ad rep finally pointed this out, I knew the writing was on the wall. Rates came down, but the damage was done.  

Speaking of advertising, have you seen some of the products local newspapers are pitching to businesses across the country? Why sell advertising in a TV guide or TV page inserts – everyone uses the guide button on their remotes.  

Calendars? Really!? This isn’t 1970 – calendars with tiny business card ads are so … quaint.   

Remember the Progress edition – maybe, maybe not. I always thought they were boring as shit to read. They used to be the product that helped publications achieve their annual budget goal; no longer is that true. The Athens Messenger even skipped the Progress Edition one year – management forgot about it. Must’ve been no progress in Athens County that year.  

Probably would be better to focus on a strong back-to-school guide, fair booklet, graduation guide, Ohio University welcome guide, fall/spring sports previews – people read/need those. And I liked the old Athens News Halloween editions – thousands of kids come to town.  

Yes, a tourism guide covering all of Southeast Ohio is nice, but I think our readers would rather have the basics rather than canned stories about state parks most people know about.    

Then there are all those special inserts – those costs may be pushed onto subscribers who look at the big bills when it comes time to renew and ask WTF!? 

What are a newspaper’s subscription prices – that depends on who you ask… That’s if you have the patience and fortitude to navigate a computerized phone system to purchase a subscription.  

Circulation equates to “reach” in the community. To save costs, Athens News’ circulation was slashed, leaving it with a diminishing print presence in Athens. Yes, online is nice, but … unless you create good content, restaurant reviews aren’t enough to sustain anything.   

Most weeks, the Athens News’ page count was reduced to 12-16 pages, most of it filled with calendar items, stupid food reviews written a few years ago by an absolute moron, and canned crap. Hard-hitting journalism – forget about it. The same can be said for the Athens Messenger – 12 pages in most editions.  

The same can be said of most paid newspapers – really, do you think folks are willing to pay between $2 to $5 for a single copy that’s 12 to 16 pages deep off the rack at the local grocery store – yesterday’s news today? 

And more or less, the Athens News morphed in all but name into the Athens Messenger’s Wednesday edition. 

And, you’d better hope the mail can deliver your paid subscription to the local newspaper in a timely manner. After hours, I’d deliver newspapers in Athens or Circleville because I thought it was wrong for a customer to wait another day for a paper that might never come – perhaps “credited” to their account.  

And if you try calling into the newspaper, isn’t it frustrating to navigate a phone tree, maybe leave a message, to track down someone who can help you, maybe answer a question? Poor customer service reflects on any business.  

To reduce overhead, Athens News’ reporting staff was reduced to … well, nothing, absorbed by the Athens Messenger. Despite moronic management-driven remakes and rebrands that did nothing but dilute a treasured brand, everyone could tell the Athens News had lost a step or three in news coverage and advertising reach.   

Yes, the journalists do the best they can, but at a certain point … let’s just say there’s only so many hours in a day. Boss gets to go home to his children, maybe go on a cruise, but at the end of the shift, you’re still writing and editing long hours, unappreciated … for low pay … raises, if any, do not keep pace with soaring inflation. And Athens is not a cheap place to live. At the end of the day, low-paid staffers are subsidizing advertising losses and management failures — have been for years. That’s not fair. We should’ve unionized – of course, unionizing hasn’t worked for the university folks.  

And talented journalists aren’t stupid – those employees who can move, will move. Staffers at most local newspapers probably work for a couple of years before moving onto better working conditions and higher salaries. 

When someone leaves, their institutional knowledge of their news or sports beat goes with them. The days of editors with a deep knowledge of sources, people and places within the community are long gone. 

The same applies to ad folks who face higher churn and burn rates due to a combination of low commissions and ever-increasing sales goals. New ad sales professionals – they never have time to develop. And experienced ones, if they survive frequent changes in upper management, hold onto the bigger accounts like healthcare providers but fail to develop advertisers from Main Street, mom-and-pop businesses. That’s critical – much like not covering an important news story, failure to sell ads at the local level speaks volumes about a publication’s support in the business community. If you only pay attention to the big accounts, then when their budgets dry up, you’re screwed.  

Publishers – like that year when there were four Roman emperors – saw it when I was in Athens; that’s common practice in many places. They come and go after a few years. Poor ad sales, not meeting projections because they can’t connect with business leaders and the community. Gone are the days of the Bush family’s leadership at the Athens Messenger or Bruce Mitchell’s guidance at the Athens News. 

Then there’s the public perception. Near and far, publishers and ad managers have stopped attending Chamber functions or other important events that attract potential ad leads. When I attended several chamber functions across Southeast Ohio to report on them, I remember thinking this was a great place for ad pros to connect with business leaders, but I was all alone. No wonder no one advertises – sending an email to a business owner you haven’t met face to face will only get you so far.    

Being seen at events – that’s important for editorial staff. Spread too thin, reporters covered too few public events and governmental affairs. 

Editors being 20-somethings these days, rather than longtime staffers who had worked their way up, like Terry Smith, Steve Robb and Herb Amey did, to become editors, the leadership of the Athens News and the Athens Messenger over time became less involved in the community. That’s not an indictment of the editorial staff – there’s only so many hours in a day and you only get paid for 7.5 hours if you’re hourly; if you’re salary, God help you …

Classifieds – ever heard of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace? Personal ads seeking someone who likes Pina Coladas – this is not the 70s …

If overpriced legal ads – aka taxpayer-funded government subsidies for newspapers – were to disappear, community newspapers would fold overnight.  

True story – I once saw a media manager charge thousands of dollars to publish delinquent tax lists – as required by law – inside a weekly newspaper with fewer than 200 paid subscribers. Shameful. 

I once saw a general manager shake down a senior citizen for $50 who wanted to advertise her high school class reunion. That lady was probably in her mid-80s, certainly living on Social Security. That ad should’ve been considered the same as an unpaid civic announcement. That general manager didn’t care – needed that money to meet her sales goal. Repulsive. Theft. 

Manager made the woman cry because she couldn’t email in the ad specs – wanted desperately to do it over the phone or in person. Manager’s handling of that didn’t do us any favors in the community. When I saw that, I knew it was time to leave.   

Due to all these problems, town and county readers have long moved on to other publications across the country, such as the Athens Independent, which has a motivated staff committed to providing better journalism. Better paid too. 

And this is just the stuff I can write about – there’s much more to the story of Athens’ newspaper’s fall, but that’s not for me to tell. 

Honestly, since many of these corporate news outlets seem intent on failing time and again, I always wondered if they are part of some grand scheme, maybe a tax write-off of some sort for a bigger, more profitable business.  

Maybe it’s best for these places to fail so that new media outlets can advance.  

If there is a silver lining to the decline of newspapers, poor management led to the Athens Independent’s genesis a few short years ago, same as many publications, such as the Albemarle Observer, have evolved in places where corporate media have failed their communities.