SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Roughly nine years ago, Kristi Hine wasn’t looking to buy a weekly newspaper in South Dakota but she ended up as the owner of True Dakotan in Wessington Springs.
She’s an owner now mainly because the prior owners suggested she consider the opportunity. Hine was working in media relations for a health care organization. She liked to write, take photographs, tell stories and connect with people. She considered her likes and loves and concluded: “Wow. That’s journalism.”
Hine said a similar opportunity could be available for someone in Winner as the owners of the Winner Advocate plan to close at the end of the month.
“I feel like it will take the right person to say ‘OK,'” Hine said. And a potential buyer may need to think unconventionally of the newspaper. “It may not look like the Winner Advocate in all of its printed glory,” Hine said.
Instead, a potential future could be a digital-only product or a newspaper with much more emphasis on the digital version than now, she said.
Dan Bechtold, the editor of the Winner Advocate said the local economic development group is working on a possible plan.
“It’s working hard to have some options for the paper,” Bechtold said.
But, as of Thursday, the plan is to close on Aug. 28.
“Since before COVID, we’ve seen several newspapers close or consolidate,” said Molly McRoberts, the president of the South Dakota News Media Association and the editor of the newspaper in Gettysburg. The news media still has 103 members in the state.
The U.S. lost newspapers in 2023 at an average rate of 2.5 per week, according to a study from the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at The leaves more than 200 counties with limited access to reliable local news and information, the study said. The study referred to these counties as “news deserts.”
Tripp County would be one such county if the Advocate closes. “We’re the only paper in Tripp County,” Bechtold said.
Bechtold said many residents of Winner have said the newspaper is too important to lose after the recent announcement.
“People want their local paper. They want to keep their local paper,” Bechtold said.
Who is going to cover the football team, the city council or the county fair?
Newspapers like the Advocate, the True Dakotan and the Potter County News are hyper-local.
“I love sports. I attend all the government meetings,” Bechtold said. “We do all the school stuff like homecoming.”
The newspaper is covering the Tripp County Fair this week.
“You’re providing something for your community that you are not going to get anywhere else,” McRoberts said.
Local newspapers hold local governments accountable because they attend and cover the meetings, Hine said.
“Dan is a shining example of covering local government,” Hine said. “There will be a huge void in the public’s right to know (if the newspaper) closes.”
Hine and McRoberts said the public needs responsible, accurate reports about local government. It’s one of the parts of the job that attracts both of them.
Another attraction is the variety of stories, stories they say bring people together.
“You cover local government and you do a feature on somebody that found (birds) growing in their outdoor decor,” Hine said.
A closure would create some hitches in how the county government and local governments such as cities and school boards handle legal notices.
“Where would they put the legals?” Bechtold said. “They’d have to go to another county.”
Is there a future for weekly newspapers?
There is a future for weekly newspapers but it may look different, Hine and McRoberts said.
Any possible buyer will take on some challenges, they said, but there are opportunities as well.
“One of the challenges is we are seeing community competing for advertising,” McRoberts said.
There are fewer retailers and businesses to advertise and “more and more are using social media,” McRoberts said.
McRoberts said some newspapers are successfully working with advertisers to add video and other features to add as part of cross-promotion.
“In 2015, it was a whole different world,” Hine said. Local restaurants advertised their weekly specials in the newspaper back in 2015. Now, they post those specials on their Facebook pages.
Wessington Springs has also lost a car dealership in the past nine years which also cut into her revenue, Hine said.
Bechtold said part of the reason for the planned closing in Winner is declining subscriptions and declining advertising revenue.
Declining print subscriptions is a challenge for newspapers, Hine and McRoberts said.
Bechtold said people still want the information from the newspaper but they will pick up a copy at a local store such as during football season or for other news.
A totally printed product is not where readers and advertisers are moving, McRoberts said. An online and social media presence is important, she said.
“You have to go where readers are at,” Hine said. If newspapers show they are where readers are at, advertisers respond, “We can stay viable,” Hine said.
Digital options also become more important as postage and printing costs continue to increase, Hine said. There has been a 50% increase in postage costs over the past three years, she said.
Hine is hopeful there is a solution to preserve the future of the Winner Advocate.
“I can’t bear the image of the town without its community newspaper,” Hine said.
