As many of our readers grapple with the change that has taken place with our community newspapers over the past couple weeks, we are working behind the scenes at the Fillmore County Journal to expand our news coverage.
With this transition, we realize that we have become the only newspaper serving all of Fillmore County and portions of Houston and Mower Counties.
This is a big responsibility. And, we have an incredible award-winning team that is up for this challenge.
We currently cover 15 city councils, seven school districts, and county government. We also provide space for locally-authored commentary, obituaries, social scenes, court reports, police reports, college news, sports, arts, academics, and so much more.
That won’t be enough. We’ll need to do more, and we realize that.
I’ve been on the phone with a number of reporters from the Bluff Country Newspaper Group over this past week, and we are so lucky to have many of them joining our reporting team.
This newspaper is going to grow with content in so many ways, and our readers can be a part of that process.
If you ever have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at (507) 765-2151 or via e-mail at news@fillmorecountyjournal.com.
The Fillmore County Journal has always been a different kind of newspaper.
Back in 1985 (celebrating 35 years in 2020), this newspaper was launched by Richard and Esther Kelly along with business partner Larry Salge. In 1997, John and Patricia Torgrimson purchased this newspaper and continued the tradition of a family-owned operation. My wife and myself purchased the newspaper from Torgrimsons in 2009.
Free distribution newspapers like this one are rare, but they are becoming more common every year.
Subscription-based daily and weekly newspapers have been losing ground over the past 30 years. Quite often, transplants move into an area and are not connecting with their community right away. They don’t recognize any of the names in the obituaries. They may not be paying property taxes, so they don’t care how their city or school district is spending money. There’s a disconnect.
After this free distribution newspaper was launched in 1985, the Winona Post soon followed and transitioned from a shopper into a free distribution newspaper.
In December of 2019, a weekly newspaper located in Decorah, Iowa, transitioned from a subscription-based publication to a free distribution newspaper just like the Fillmore County Journal. Why? Based on my conversation with the publisher, it was because of declining subscriptions. They had to make that change in order to stay viable and retain advertisers.
Free distribution (as opposed to subscription-based) newspapers are becoming more and more common for good reason. Businesses that advertise in the newspaper want to reach 100% of the households with their message. If subscription-based newspapers are losing ground, those local businesses are reaching fewer people every year.
When people have moved to Fillmore County, Minn., they have immediately started receiving two free newspapers without signing up for anything — the Fillmore County Journal and Bluff Country Reader. These two newspapers have been competing head-to-head for more than two decades. And, the subscription-based newspapers have lost ground with both circulation and advertising support, because they were reaching fewer readers every year.
This is a reality facing so many subscription-based newspapers throughout the United States and the world at large. And, I wish it wasn’t that way, but it’s true. People want news for free, more and more. And, that’s where a free distribution newspaper like the Fillmore County Journal fills that role.
We look forward to providing everyone in our coverage area with a free weekly newspaper full of local content intended to keep our readers informed, entertained and inspired.
We are here to serve you, now more than ever.