Natalie Kennedy has a phrase.
"Refrigerator journalism."
It resonates with her staff at Tioga Publishing, a group of community newspapers in rural North Central Pennsylvania.
"I know this kid on the front okay? And I know his parents, and I know they're gonna see it online, because they read our paper online. I know they are going to buy several copies of this paper, and I know they're going to cut it out and it's going to go in their fridge," said reporter Donna LeSchander. "I know that that's true.”
LeSchander is pointing to the Thursday, Sept. 12, front page of the Wellsboro Gazette — one man is choking another as they’re learning the art of stage fighting.
Refrigerator journalism.
Kennedy is the managing editor of the Wellsboro Gazette, the Free Press Courier and the Potter Leader-Enterprise.
"Cheryl just sent me a clipping this week of when I was named editor," she said.
Four full-time staff members. Two counties. Three weekly papers. And, this month, one anniversary.
The Wellsboro Gazette is celebrating 150 years of continuous publication, a feat achieved by few newspapers. The first edition hit the press on Oct. 29, 1874.
"Oh my goodness, every community had a newspaper. Blossburg had its paper. Mansfield had a paper. Wellsboro had two. Elkland had a couple. So every community had its own little paper, and now we've survived," said Kennedy.
The birth of 'a spicy little daily'
The Democratic Party in Tioga County founded the Wellsboro Gazette to rival the Republican newspaper, The Agitator, according to the Tioga County Historical Society. Shortly afterward F. G. Churchill came from Elmira, New York, and became editor.
An article in an 1874 edition of the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer called the paper a "spicy little daily."
In 1877, Churchill sold his interest to Frank Conevery of Bath, New York. By 1895, Conevery had sole ownership and it remained in the hands of his heirs until it was sold to Community Media Group about 30 years ago. The business specializes in small weekly and daily papers in the Midwest and on the East Coast
In 1962, the Gazette bought out its rival, The Wellsboro Agitator — the staff at the paper loves that name.
Surviving as news declines elsewhere
According to a recent report from the Center for Study of Responsive Law, two newsrooms close every week in America.
How has the Wellsboro Gazette survived?
"That’s a good, really good question. I'd like to think, because we try to provide the news that people want," Kennedy said.
If you look back through old papers there was a lot of doom and gloom, she said. They now focus on more uplifting stories about the people in their communities.
"It's all about the people, if they aren't doing things, then we don't have anything to write about," Kennedy said.
They cover it all.
"When there's a controversy, they're gonna pick it up, and when there's a fire, they're gonna buy it ... we're kind of a mirror," she said.
LeSchander said there are few other ways to get local news in Tioga County. The closest newspaper to the Gazette is based over 50 miles away in Williamsport. There’s no local TV station; the closest is in New York state. There’s also the Home Page Network. It’s a network-style online publication focused on good news in Tioga County and based in Wellsboro.
"But this is really it," LeSchander said of local news coverage.
The Center for Study of Responsive Law report also says in 1990 there were around 55,000 reporters employed by newspapers, magazines, radio and television. By 2021, there were around 23,000 working reporters.
"We have a lot less people to do this. We used to have typesetters and ad designers and we had pressmen, we had a press," said Kennedy. "We had reporters, more reporters in each site. It just keeps on consolidating."
Kennedy, whose title is managing editor, was asked at a local Rotary Club meeting in Tioga County what she does.
"I'm like, 'well, I take photos, I interview people, I write stories, I design pages, and sometimes I even fix toilets,'" she said. "You do what you're called to do ... we're generalists. We do it all."
LeSchander, Kristie Bowles and Nick Coyle are the other full-time employees — like Kennedy, they do more than just report. Coyle is the sports editor and his byline covers the sports section, along with photos he takes at games.
They refer to Coyle as a one-man band for sports. He lives two-hours away from Wellsboro and comes in once a week. Coyle has put 1,000 miles on his car in a week covering sports, they said.
"He left for a year, and it was just the lack of him. It was so awful," LeSchander said.
Because it’s not just the Gazette they fill, they also report for the Free Press Courier and the Potter Leader-Enterprise. The papers do have stringers, like Cheryl Clarke, a long-time employee who started at the papers in 2005 and has since retired.
Sort of: Clarke does the papers’ obituaries, cover meetings and writes up police reports.
"People who write (for) the paper love the paper forever," Kennedy said.
Coverage conundrums
Their biggest challenge?
"There's so much news is happening," said Kennedy.
"Donna's doing three things on Saturday ... there's so much to do, and there's so few of us, and sometimes it's hard to know what's going on outside our little circle. And so it's a constant struggle to get to the other places," said Kennedy.
There are 29 townships and 10 boroughs in Tioga County, and the Potter Leader-Enterprise covers Potter County, which has 24 townships and six boroughs.
The papers cover the school districts and most populous boroughs typically. Then the staff looks at agendas and listens to the community.
“I wish we'd had people to cover every township, every little board meeting, because every community has its own issues," said LeSchander.
Producing three weekly papers is hard work.
Every Wednesday they plot out and paginate the papers. In the organization’s relatively new office, a gray house with brown shutters just outside of Wellsboro, hangs a white board with a road map. Kennedy’s desk is right outside a door frame looking in on where the reporters work. They talk to each other throughout the process, making decisions on front page stories and the best photos. Kennedy often gets up to look at their computer screens.
The papers get delivered throughout the communities on Thursdays. By then, the small staff is already back to planning their coverage for the next week. There's also a website to maintain, an online e-edition, and an app.
On a recent Thursday, during a story meeting, LeSchander, Bowles and Kennedy worked through the upcoming week's coverage.
"Ram Jam, dog groomer, American Legion, Mountain Laurel ... plein air," said Kennedy, running through LeSchander's list of stories.
They talked through an upcoming hunters' guide.
"What do you think about your game recipes?” said Kennedy.
And a special tab for the paper’s 150th anniversary.
"We have to come up with some history stories," said Kennedy, "150 years, none of us were alive back then.”
All additional content on top of their regular day to day work.
"We're very lucky that everybody here is really hard working and very dedicated, and I hope like to do what they do and that and that's why we're so successful," said Kennedy.
