In this internet age, small-town newspapers are having a hard time. Many have gone out of business. In some of those communities, the weekly paper was an important source for local news, sports and obituaries – sometimes, the only source.
The printing costs and personnel have also risen, a problem for local newspapers.
Since 2004, over 1,800 local newspapers have gone out of business.
To maintain a local paper, the Macon County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) has bought their only local paper, The Tuskegee News. Gayle Davis, the widow of former owner and journalist Paul Davis, owned it. The two had run it since 1983 – 42 years.
The weekly paper is based in Macon County’s seat of Tuskegee, with a circulation of about 3,800 readers.
MCEDA formed a new legal entity to own and operate the paper, Tuskegee Media LLC.
In 2024, MCEDA officials learned that Gayle Davis was taking steps to retire but had not found a buyer for the paper. They feared the 159-year-old paper could close, leaving the county without a local paper.
MCEDA executive director Joe Turham announced Friday:
Weekly newspapers for generations have been the thread holding communities together. This week, MCEDA, closed on a purchase to both preserve and build on a 160-year tradition. In the weeks ahead we will also offer a digital version and many new features. But mostly, we celebrate The Tuskegee News, the Davis family, Publisher/Editor, Guy Rhodes and the team that has kept news, democracy, legal postings alive for decades! I’m exhausted, and quite proud to help quarterback another era of professional, ethical and inspiring news and dialogue with people that love our community, heritage and future!
A new editor was hired for the paper, Auburn graduate Michael Floyd. Internet news will be added.
Turnham is a former State Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party. His late father Pete Turnham (D-Auburn) served one of the longest tenures in the Alabama State House of Representatives.
This is not the only time The Tuskegee News has almost closed. Up to and during the Civil War, the local paper was named “The Baptist.” Union soldiers who advanced toward Tuskegee intended to burn the printing presses. They had been told that “religionists” in Alabama had inflamed the people against the infiltrating Yankees using local newspapers.
The owner of The Baptist Paper, Tuskegee’s Rev. Fuller Henderson, had to use all his communications skills to talk the Yankees out of burning the printing presses and to allow a paper to continue, but not ‘The Baptist.’ Hence, the birth of ‘The Tuskegee News’ 159 years ago.
The paper has now survived the threat of being burned down by Union forces and the threat of burning through money in the Internet economy.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
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