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House Subcommittee hears from community newspaper publishers
Guest Column: Stop getting ghosted by your clients
By Ryan Dohrn
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly Vol. 16 | No.42 | Thursday, October 28, 2021 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
New Pocahontas editor looks to the ‘80s for inspiration To jumpstart a new era at the Pocahontas Star Herald, John Allen French went back to the future. The Randolph County newspaper’s editor took inspiration from the Star Herald editions he read when he was a child in the 1980s to cultivate his approach to covering local news. As the newspaper changes with new ownership, French said it is growing its audience because it has realigned its focus to be similar to its approach from decades ago. French, who started at the newspaper in July, said he was reminiscing about the newspaper under the leadership of the late Ann Carroll, a former owner and publisher whose grandfather established the newspaper, and longtime editor Anita Murphy, who recently retired. He headed to the Star Herald archives to read up on newspapers from the ‘80s, and has since modeled coverage after those successful years. “The way Ann did it, she treated the paper more like a community newspaper,” French said. “We can get the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for state news and we can turn on the local TV station for regional news,” French said. “I wanted something that just the local people could read, and with each article, they know the people. My goal was to modernize the 1980s papers. That’s what we’ve done.” He said three or four people become first-time subscribers to the newspaper daily. Several subscribers also renew each day. The success story of the Pocahontas Star Herald has been so remarkable that the newspaper is in the running with two other local businesses to be the Randolph County Chamber of Commerce business of the year, French pointed out. “It’s been amazing how it’s turned around,” he said. French joined the newspaper at a time of transition for the publication. In June, it was sold to CherryRoad Media, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based CherryRoad Technologies. The Pocahontas acquisition was one of the first for the startup newspaper chain, which now owns 27 newspapers in seven states. A local historian and community advocate who contributed
John Allen French
articles on occasion to the newspaper, French said he called up CherryRoad’s owner and was offered the editor job. The company also bought the building that housed French’s family flower shop and moved its newspaper offices there. Giving up the full-time flower business was a difficult decision for Continued on Page 2