From families to corporations: One Kentucky paper exemplifies a growing trend

By Lela Garner
Community Journalism
University of Kentucky
Fall 2005

As the Commonwealth-Journal approaches its 50th birthday, some citizens in the rural town of Somerset, Ky., acknowledge that their hometown paper isn't quite what it used to be.

Bill Mardis, one of the best-known editors of the Commonwealth-Journal in the last several decades, said in 1991 that the paper was once considered The New York Times of Kentucky community daily papers. Today, the comparison may not hold up as well. In recent years, the Commonwealth-Journal, which has a circulation of just over 9,000, has gone through several changes in ownership, the most noted being the transition from independent to chain ownership. Some members in the community claim that the quality of writing is sub-par and that coverage is tinged with bias.

One critic is Stuart Simpson, an assistant professor in the graphic arts department at Somerset Community College. Simpson's family founded the Wayne County Outlook in the adjoining Wayne county in 1904. The Simpsons sold to Smith Newspapers in 1988, a decision he called "not too smart in the long run." Simpson echoes the sentiment of some who say that the paper has seen better days:

" The Commonwealth-Journal was once considered by all to be one of the best small daily papers in the state," Stuart said. "Today's paper is not the paper that it once was. It is very cluttered looking and with poorly written articles. Most of the information for any one story is usually included somewhere, it's just that the reader needs a machete to hack through the disjoined and confusing copy to find the real story."

One common problem with the Commonwealth-Journal, Simpson points out, is the tendency to use large headlines with small text. For example, the Thursday, Dec. 1 edition of the Commonwealth-Journal has the lead story in the upper right corner with a four-line headline. The accompanying story, however, is little more than a column inch long.

"They're using layout to use up the space," Simpson said.

Another example from the same issue is the lead photo for an article on the annual downtown Christmas parade. The aerial photo is too large for the small story, generally unimpressive and dated: The picture is from the Christmas parade in 2003.

Somerset resident and photographer Jeremy Bullock said that the photos the paper tends to run are "generally crap."

" The pictures are low quality and sometimes don't even relate that well to the story," Bullock said.

Somerset Community College student Morgan Bryant said she doesn't really read the paper because "evidently it's not interesting enough to buy for 50 cents." When she does catch a glance at the paper, she often doesn't agree with some of the news judgment. When Somerset Community College student and Ms. Taylor County Britney Shoap died in a car accident as the passenger of a drunk driver, the Commonwealth-Journal ran a picture of the wrecked vehicle that visibly showed blood, a decision Bryant disagreed with.

"People don't need to see that," Bryant said. "The families shouldn?t have to relive that."

Residential health care worker and former Commonwealth-Journal subscriber Denise Mounce of Somerset said she discontinued her subscription because the paper "annoyed me more than stimulated my interest."

"They really need someone to proofread, because it's full of typos," Mounce said. "The writing isn't that great and the stories just aren't that interesting. Yesterday's front page had an article about albino squirrels. I mean, come on! That's not exactly front- page material."

Glenn Cox, minister of Fellowship Methodist Church in the community of Shopville, said he stopped getting the paper when it started getting "thin" in the mid 1990s.

" Willie Ramsey (another local religious figure) and his crazy antics are always on the editorial page," Cox said. "A lot of the stories aren't even written by local people, and the ones that are, are biased."

Chad Mofield, manager at the local Dawahare's in Somerset Mall, speculated that the huge amount of church advertisements that appear often in the paper contributed to what he called the paper's "right-wing bias."

" The editorial page is filled with articles about the 'demon alcohol' and the 'evil lottery.'" Mofield said. "Pretty much everything 'the right' would consider a vice."

Commonwealth-Journal news reporter Chris Harris, who has worked for the paper for a little over two years, doesn't take the criticism too seriously.

"Most of us are writers more than we are newspaper writers," Harris said. "Even if our journalistic tendencies are muddled, we do know how to put together a sentence. We make up for journalistic instincts with effort."

Jeff Neal began working for the paper as a sports stringer while attending college in 1982, and in 1984 became the Sunday sports editor. At one time the managing editor, Neal is now the news editor of the Commonwealth-Journal, and his wife, Tricia, is a reporter.

Neal does acknowledge that the paper and its staff aren't perfect. He blames this on the inherent changes in community journalism that accompany chain ownership.

"Actually, we have had staffs here with more skill," Neal said. "Those were in place at a time when the paper was family-owned. Back then, smaller papers had larger staffs than they do now. The face of community journalism has changed drastically since I came aboard in 1984."

Neal chalks up the lack of journalism skills at the Commonwealth-Journal to people picking newspaper work as a second career.

"Aside from myself, most of the folks we have really didn't see themselves as reporters when they were in college. Chris (Harris) has a screenwriting background and my wife, Tricia, wanted to work in public relations."

Despite the criticism from some members of the community, Neal says that the Commonwealth-Journal is still a good newspaper that continuously notches KPA awards on an annual basis.

"I'm very proud of the work we do here. We're not perfect, but I still count the Commonwealth-Journal as one of the best newspapers in Kentucky. And, to take that a step further, I have judged papers of this size from states such as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Kentucky papers are head and shoulders above those states," Neal said.

In an age where media outlets are increasingly dependent on disseminating information via the Internet, most newspapers have a website to supplement their print publications. The Commonwealth-Journal hasn't had a working website in over a year, a point that speaks volumes about its quality and where the priorities lie.

"Our internet site is in limbo because we have changed directions on which provider to use several times," Neal said. "From what I understand, our corporate office at CNHI is going to get us online within the next few months."

The story behind the Commonwealth-Journal and its less than stellar reputation serves as a microcosm for the newspaper industry at large. Eighty percent of daily newspapers in the United States are now owned by a chain or group.

Before 1966, Somerset had two competing weekly papers in Somerset, the Joplin family's The Commonwealth and The Somerset Journal, owned by the Rogers family. Despite the fact that The Commonwealth was the Republican paper and The Journal was the Democrat paper, the two papers operated in the same building on South Main Street in different offices in order to utilize the same production space and equipment. The papers merged on Jan. 1, 1966 and the Commonwealth-Journal, a daily newspaper, was born, with the agreement that the paper would not endorse political candidates and maintain a bi-partisan stance.

In an article that appeared in the Commonwealth-Journal's 25th Anniversary Special edition in January of 1991, Mardis recalled the extremely partisan nature of the two papers before the merger: "Each newspaper hewed to its own political philosophies so closely that often when a candidate of the opposing party would win, headlines following the election would not mention the winner's name. The Commonwealth-Journal has maintained a non-partisan editorial policy," Mardis said.

George Joplin Jr. published The Commonwealth until his death in 1957. His wife, Barthenia, took over as publisher and their son, George Joplin III, eventually became publisher of the Commonwealth-Journal following the death of his mother in 1979.

Joplin, better known as "Jop" in the community, had an outstanding list of credentials. A graduate of Centre College in Danville, Joplin earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York, which houses one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country. While in the Air Force, Joplin earned a second master's degree in psychological warfare from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Joplin was active in state and national press organizations, and in 1964 served as president of the Kentucky Press Association. In 1976, he served as president of the National Newspaper Association, making him the first Kentuckian to hold that position. Joplin maintained a vital role in the community, and in 1985 the Lexington Herald-Leader presented him with the Edwards T. Templin award for outstanding contributions to the community.

The 1980s brought about business problems for the Joplins. According to Al Smith, the host and producer of KET's "Comment on Kentucky" and a former newspaper publisher, ill health played a factor in Joplin's decision to sell the Commonwealth-Journal to Park Communications in 1988. His daughter Jane became more involved in the paper as a result, and brought in a management consultant who proposed some firings, which obviously angered some of the employees.

" The family invested a good bit of money in remodeling the old building and staying downtown when many businesses were moving to the bypass," Smith said. " ... I think Park came about the time the family needed to get out.

His family remained involved in the paper for several more years as publisher, but long-term health concerns also plagued Joplin's son, George A. Joplin IV as well. In February of 1990, just two years after selling to Park Communications, George A. Joplin III died as result of an aneurysm. The legacy he left in the community, however, lived on.

" He was a very highly respected individual in the news business, not only in Kentucky, but also on the national scene," David Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Press Association said in Joplin's obituary that appeared in the Commonwealth-Journal on Valentine's Day of 1990. "He could never get it out of his blood."

The 1990s brought about more changes in ownership. In 1995, the paper was bought by Park Acquisitions, originally from Ithaca, N.Y., who the year before moved its headquarters to Lexington. Park Communications had recently bought the Sentinel-Echo in London, Ky., Somerset's neighbor to the east, the year before. The privately owned company of Gary Knapp of Lexington and Donald Tomlin of Columbia, S.C., was sold to Media General, Inc. of Richmond, Va in 1997. In 1998, Media General sold all of its community newspapers, including the Commonwealth-Journal, to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. David Bronner, the chief executive of Teacher's Retirement Systems in Alabama moved the company in March of 1998 to Birmingham, Ala., investing more than $1.1 billion in the process.

In 1999, CNHI owned 96 small daily papers across the nation and 14 in Kentucky, making it the largest newspaper chain in the country at that time. CNHI slipped to the third largest company in 2005, and currently owns 10 newspapers in Kentucky.

According to CNHI's website, "It is the company's strategy to seek out newspapers in smaller markets with growth potential. A premium has been placed in purchasing newspapers in geographic proximity, for operational efficiency and in order to provide additional services to readers."

In Somerset and its surrounding cities, the "clustering" effect CNHI utilizes is prevalent. In addition to the Commonwealth-Journal, the Wayne County Outlook and The Sentinel-Echo, CNHI owns the McCreary County Record and Corbin's Times-Tribune, which both neighbor Somerset as well. Owning papers in geographic proximity saves newspaper chains money because they can share staff and equipment. With operations in 21 states, CNHI's geographic diversity helps shelter it from economic slumps.

While CNHI has figured out the formula to monetary success, an emphasis on mass production of newspapers may come at the cost of compromised quality, according to Simpson. Company-wide guidelines about advertising and editorial content requires editors and reporters to sacrifice a certain amount of control. Also, because the clustering strategy enables the staff to work at several different papers, staff members tend to be overworked, a strain that often manifests itself in a lower quality newspaper.

When Neal came aboard, the newspaper was owned by George Joplin III, and the paper had "a staff of around 20 in the newsroom alone," Neal said. Today, that number has been cut in half, to a mere 11 staff members total.

Somerset attorney Bruce Orwin, who with Simpson helped create Pulaski Week in 1987 as a weekly alternative to the Commonwealth-Journal, lays the blame of the Commonwealth-Journal's lackluster reputation almost squarely on corporations.

"They (corporations) have to answer to shareholders, so they have to be profitable," Orwin said. "The employees are underpaid and the attitude of the corporations is 'How cheap can we hire them?'"

Simpson agreed that the focus seems to "shift from product to profit" when a chain purchases a paper. The advertising department suddenly becomes more important than the news people, Stuart explained, and thus the quality of the paper is diminished.

"It's not that chains want a bad paper, it's just that to make the large interest payments for the properties they purchased, money is the top priority," Simpson said.

With the bottom line the primary focus of a newspaper chain, news quality seems destined to decline. As the corporate cycle continues, chains will continually sell out themselves to even bigger chains, leaving many citizens to ask just what happened to "their" newspaper. The forecast for community newspapers like the Commonwealth-Journal looks uncertain, at best, as family newspapers are becoming less the norm and more the exception.

Phone: (859) 257-3744, Fax: (859) 323-9879

Al Cross, director , al.cross@uky.edu

Last Updated: February 16, 2006