We had an institutional role reversal this week at The Times Leader.

Reporters came asking questions.

One was from the Wall Street Journal, another from WBRE-TV, and still another from a newspaper in New England.

All of them had heard that we love newspapers and still believe newspapers are a good business.

Why wouldn’t we? For us, local retail advertising increased 30 percent in 2008 versus 2007 and online retail increased 164 percent. And like many newspaper owners these days we have loans but unlike several of them we are paying off those loans.

We are a success story in these times and other media are interested in reporting on our good fortune and buoyant optimism.

“We just read where you are buying the Back Mountain Community News,” said one, “and we thought we’d do a brief on the announcement.”

Buying a newspaper, some asked incredulously?

Darn right, we responded.

“By the way, what is, where is, the Back Mountain News,” he asked?

So, I explained my basic understanding of valley geography. It goes like this. Wilkes-Barre is part of a valley. On either side are mountains…

I was tempted further to quote the story about a publisher who more than 50 years ago was running a paper which was broke when he acquired a competitor. When asked what in the world he was doing, he replied, he was a gambler at heart. Since he was going broke he figured he might as well double down on his bet because he was feeling lucky. His bet worked and he built one of the country’s largest newspapers.

Well, the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Co. is not broke but we know we navigate in rough seas these days. We still set sail every day and seek new territory. Buying the respected Back Mountain Community News was a no-brainer. First, it is profitable and secondly, owning it brought with it Publisher Lisa Pretko, a former employee of The Times Leader. She is now running the business of all of our weeklies and our daily Scranton edition of The Times Leader. She has ambitious expansion plans for the latter which we started at the end of 2008.

Lately, most of us have been hit with a barrage of stories about newspaper woes. Which metropolitan city will be the first to have its daily newspaper shut down, asked a recent report?

Nationally, there are stories that several big city dailies appear to be hovering on the brink of bankruptcy. Locally, the Scranton-based Times Shamrock has said it is asking for employee buy-outs before it imposes downsizing and layoffs. A story in its Wilkes-Barre paper, The Citizen’s Voice, reached way into the past — I guess feeling defensive about the present — and said The Times Leader has fewer employees than it did in the year 2000. Well, by golly, I guess so. Lots of things have changed since the start of this century. The world has changed. The truth is we now have a total of 225 full time employees, about 20 fewer than we had one year ago. But we also just hired three full time employees in the last month to get work done because of the new successes we have had.

We are not alone in our confidence in newspapers. Here is a link to a column in the Harrisburg Patriot News this week that aligns with our assessment of the business. http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2009/03/newspapers_are_not_doomed.html

Most of the problems in the newspaper industry that qualify as “major” are with big city dailies. And many of those have large bank debt, which, by the way, did not look unreasonable when these papers were purchased. Some of those papers face bankruptcy and perhaps even closing.

They need to make cuts in spending, deep cuts.

The rest of us face the same challenges of all advertising-supported media. Advertisers are spending less everywhere: radio, local television and the networks, cable, and magazines. Online spending has leveled out in some locations.

We are all adjusting. Some newspapers are more than likely using these reports of business troubles at big city dailies to justify cuts that are driven more by convenience than necessity.

The truth is that no one knows where and when both the recession and advertising declines will end. They will stop, though. In the meantime, we will continue to look for opportunities to grow.

And that will likely make us “news.”

About the Author

Richard L. Connor is Editor and Publisher of the Times Leader and president of Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company.

Richard L. Connor is Editor and Publisher of The Times Leader. Mr. Connor’s career in the newspaper business spans nearly 40 years in four states and in a variety of positions including editor, publisher and owner.

In June of 2006, Mr. Connor formed The Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company, purchased The Times Leader and returned to the post he previously held from 1978 to 1986.

He has worked for several media companies, including 25 years as an executive with Capital Cities Communications, later Cap Cities/ABC and then the Walt Disney Company. During that time he served for over 10 years as President and Publisher of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, TX.

His work to have his newspapers not only serve the community as a voice of needed change but also to build bridges among its leaders and diverse forces has been recognized constantly for its unique brand of media leadership. He has won numerous awards as a columnist and for his editorials and has received a number of awards for his newspaper and community leadership and achievement. He has served on numerous community and industry boards, including two times as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Nominating Committee.

He resides in the Back Mountain with his wife, Deborah, and daughter, Meredith. Mr. Connor also has two adult children.

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