THERE'S A NEW PAPER IN TOWN
And 20,000 LinkedIn followers are all worked up about it
I once joked that if I were hosting a birthday party and wanted to be sure no one would attend, I’d send out the invitations on LinkedIn. More about that later.
Around 12 years ago, a young man, around 30 then, approached me during a break at a convention in Des Moines, Iowa, and asked if we could talk. He had worked at a local newspaper, owned by a newspaper conglomerate, in his home state (Kansas). I’ve never forgotten his words, “I know I could put out a better newspaper.”
Ten years ago, Joey, his wife Lindsey, and a few friends he recruited to be a part of the news and sales team, published the first issue of Newton Now. Newton Now was later renamed Harvey County Now.
I was so impressed with Joey, Lindsey, and their team’s work that I started writing about them. My first column was in 2015, shortly after the first issue of Newton Now hit the streets. In late 2016, I interviewed Joey for my syndicated column for newspaper publishers. I learned in that interview that Lindsey and Joey didn’t inherit the paper, nor did they inherit any money to start the paper. In Joey’s words, “We did it through luck and hard work.”
In a recent column for The Hutchinson (Kansas) Tribune, Joey wrote, “On Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, Hutchinson lost its newspaper.” Hutchinson, by the way, is Joey’s hometown. He said, “Many in the community didn’t know it yet, but I take no victory lap in saying, ‘I told you so.”
On November 16, 2016, Joey had written about the fate of his local newspaper. In it, he wrote, “It was a good run,” and predicted what would happen to his “beloved” hometown newspaper, now that a private equity fund owned it.
Nine years later, in a June 1, 2025 column, Joe wrote, “Today, the Hutchinson News isn’t really a newspaper anymore. There hasn’t been a local reporter in that newsroom for over a year.”
What about LinkedIn?
What does all of this have to do with LinkedIn?” you might be wondering. Let me explain. Two days ago, I added a post on LinkedIn about Lindsey and Joey’s new newspaper, The Hutchinson Tribune.
Usually, when I post something on LinkedIn, the counter will tell me there have been 500-1,200 impressions. (A LinkedIn impression is the number of times a piece of content, such as a post or article, is displayed in someone’s feed, even if they didn’t interact with it. To count as an impression, the content must be visible on the screen for at least 300 milliseconds with 50% or more of the post in view, or it must be clicked). That basically means 500-1,200 people scanned over a post, whether they stopped to click on it or not. In addition to the impressions, generally 10-20 people will comment on one of my LinkedIn posts.
My post began, “New newspapers are formed all the time. Today, my friends Joey and Lindsey Young helped start a new paper in Hutchinson, Kansas.”
I wrote, “helped,” because The Tribune began as an effort by a local 16-year-old, Michael Glenn, to provide online news to his community, which had lost almost all news coverage of local issues. Michael, with the help of Gina Long, covered county commission meetings, local news, and more. Michael is now a full-time student at The University of Kansas, where he received a full scholarship.
When it was time to venture off to college, Michael sold the website to Joey and Lindsey, and they began the work to create a new printed newspaper for Hutchinson. The first issue – 24 pages – was distributed on August 28, 2025.
As of this morning, there have been more than 14,000 impressions of my post on LinkedIn and hundreds of responses. All were incredibly positive. Many writers expressed outright joy and enthusiasm about the new newspaper. Some publishing “insiders” wrote to ask how they did it. “Is it a non-profit?” they asked. “Does it run off donations?” It seems that it’s hard for some to fathom that a printed newspaper can be funded through subscriptions and advertising.
It’s hard for some. But not all. I see newspapers successfully doing it all the time. I also see newspapers successfully flourishing as non-profits. It’s not a one-size-fits-all business.
When asked about their success (she and Joey have started three successful newspapers over the past ten years, all within an hour of their home), Lindsey answered, “The secret of being a successful community newspaper is actually being part of the community. When newspaper owners consolidate and ship jobs away, they lose the newspaper’s soul. Our readers know us, they trust us, and they connect with us.”
But what about Atlanta?
Yes, I read the headline. Online only. A few years ago, I received several frantic calls from business leaders in New Orleans when the Times-Picayune made a similar decision. We created a strategy that led to The Advocate, a newspaper based in Baton Rouge, coming to town.
Atlanta will be fine. Someone will see the opportunity and take advantage of it.
Kevin Slimp has been a popular consultant and speaker in the newspaper industry since developing the PDF remote printing method in 1994. His upcoming webinars on design, circulation, and software can be found at newspaperacademy.com.
Kevin Slimp is former director of The University of Tennessee Newspaper Institute and founder of NewspaperAcademy.com.