GAINESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — The number of town newspapers has been dropping and the closure of four more in Tennessee was announced earlier this month. However, with that announcement came someone stepping in to help.
"It's a tradition," said Donna Breeding, sitting in a newspaper office in Gainesboro. "It's been here for over 100 years, always been called the Jackson County Sentinel."
Her official title is office manager, but that doesn't begin to explain her work.
"I juggle our ads for the newspaper," Donna said. "I go out and get stories for the newspaper. We have subscriptions. I take care of that."
The paper's a glimpse of Gainesboro.
"And we care about each other," Donna continued. "We want to know what's going on with everybody."
There's local news and flashbacks to the area's past taken from large books of archive material. There are also profiles of businesses, something loved by local Peter Kessler of the Stolen Coin Oyster Bar and Bistro.
"It's a great little local paper," Peter said. "Just getting the news out there, it's just very important to have a local paper."
"It's the only newspaper that we have," Donna added.
After years of working hard for the Jackson County Sentinel, on Aug. 4, Donna's typing stopped.
"Got a phone call," Donna remembered. "We no longer have a job. I was in shock. I didn't know what to say. I was speechless."
Their parent company closed four Tennessee papers that day.
"It upset this whole community cause this is all they've known," Donna continued. "Jackson County Sentinel is the only paper they've known. They don't have that, they don't have no news. You can't do that to this little town."
After more than 100 years, this appeared to be the end for the Jackson County Sentinel. That was the outlook for seven days.
"I got a phone call and every one of us got our jobs back," Donna said. "That was a blessing from God. That's what it was."
Daniel Richardson is the CEO of Magic Valley Publishing. He's reopened the four closed papers: the Fentress Courier, the Livingston Enterprise, the Citizen-Statesman, and the Jackson County Sentinel. He's also looking to reopen the recently closed Shelbyville Times-Gazette and the Marshall County Tribune later this month.
"The LLCs still exist," Daniel said. "They're still operating. They still got funds available."
Daniel's stepped in as a private contractor to get the papers back going, though not necessarily buy them. Daniel hopes in getting staff back in place and making improvements to content, there will be interest in new buyers for these papers.
"The owners that closed the papers were not aware that me coming in and helping was an option," he said.
According to data gathering platform Statista between 2004 and now, the US has lost close to a third of its weekly publications. That's between either newspapers closing or merging with other papers.
Daniel said he knows those challenges, but it's worth his efforts.
"Nobody else is covering news in a small town," he said. "News organizations are critical to the health of any community."
This week, Donna was back at it, typing away in the Jackson County Sentinel office.
"It's just a complete 360," said Peter. "It's just really good to have back in the community."
"Daniel stepped in to build these papers back up and better," said Donna. "We're ready for it."
