On this episode, Julie Tesch is joined by Reed Anfinson – owner and publisher of three rural newspapers in Minnesota – the Swift County Monitor News in Benson, the Stevens County Times in Morris, and the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake. Also joining the conversation is Lisa Hills, the Executive Director of the MN Newspaper Association which is a voluntary trade association of weekly and daily newspapers in Minnesota.
Their conversation touches on the importance of the community newspaper for a functioning democracy, how the concentration of businesses in larger economic centers has hurt the local newspaper business model, and the future of community newspapers.