The Oxford Free Press in Butler County is marking its second year of local news gathering.
The paper’s co-founder is Richard Campbell. He’s also professor emeritus from the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Miami University. Campbell told WYSO’s Mike Frazier how the death of one newspaper led to the birth of another.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Richard Campbell: In January of 2024, Cox Media shut down the old Oxford Press, which had been around since 1936. And after that happened, two colleagues of mine, John Skillings and Jim Rubenstein, got together. We cared about local news. We felt like Oxford was a place that would support it and already missed it. And we decided to start a newspaper. So we came up with the Oxford Free Press.
Mike Frazier: Now this is a physical paper, right? Not just digital.
Campbell: Right. We launched digitally first, a couple weeks before our print edition came out on Fridays. But, yes, we're a print edition on Fridays, and it's interesting that about 80 to 85% of new launches for newspapers are digital only. So it's rare that we're supporting a print paper.
"I think local news, particularly in a small town, is kind of a glue that holds a community together."
Frazier: In this day and age, newspapers are folding or dramatically cutting back or going all digital. You seem to be bucking this trend. Why do you think you're being successful at this point in that area?
Campbell: Probably because of our large retirement community and the university. One of our co-founders, Jim Rubenstein, likes to say this is a print town. The business community was actually looking for a print venue for advertising, because there was no place to do print advertising in the area. That was another reason. And I think that we think of our base as an older population, and they've been very, very supportive. People like me and our retirement community like a print paper. We know that in the long run we're going to have to go all digital. But, as I like to say, I hope not in my lifetime.
Frazier: What's your circulation right now? Your print circulation.
Campbell: We print 1,900 copies, and our biggest pickup point is actually Kroger in town. So we have about 400 to 500 papers get picked up free at Kroger every week.
Frazier: And it's a weekly publication.
Campbell: Yes.
Frazier: It's really impressive that a small town newspaper is doing so well, and just two years out of the gate. In fact, you've won newspaper of the year from - well, tell us about that distinction.
Campbell: We won Newspaper of the Year award from the Ohio News Media Association. And we picked that award up in Columbus toward the end of March. And we won some other awards for I think in-depth reporting. We have a great designer, Macy Chamberlain, who won a number of awards for her design, her newspaper design, advertising design, special issue design. And I actually won an award as the best columnist. So that was quite a surprise.
Frazier: Congratulations. What was the column about?
Campbell: I do a column called Media Matters. My field is studying media and culture and so I write on media issues. I'm particularly interested in writing about the loss of local news, so that's something that I'm passionate about. And we know that more than half the counties in the United States now have little or no access to any kind of local news. That's how severe the problem is.
Frazier: But again, you're bucking that trend and that's just really impressive.
Campbell: The three founders and I sometimes look at each other and say that we've really done this. We really have created a successful paper and have kept it going for two years and we know we can do it for another year. I like to remind people that the press is the only institution, organization, business that's mentioned in our Constitution. That's how much our founders thought it was important. In 2002, for every 100,000 people, there were 40 reporters. Today, for every 100,000 people, there are fewer than eight reporters. That's a loss of 75% of reporters in the last 25 years. It's scary.
So I think we need to do something. And I like to tell this to people, there are studies now showing that towns that have local news are healthy and have a lot less polarization, which is one of the problems of our time.
I think local news, particularly in a small town, is kind of a glue that holds a community together. It gives them a base of support. I know the longer we do this, the more smiles and nods I get when I go to Kroger and have my Oxford Free Press cap on. This is something that our community wants and that we provide, and I think it's a model for how you can do this.
