In 2008, three community-minded individuals came together to start a hyperlocal newspaper in Plant City.
The town enjoyed that type of community anchor for most of the last century, but with the loss of the hometown ownership came the loss of a balanced perspective on the town. Since that time, the Plant City Observer has built a strong base of community support.
“I love the Plant City Observer,” founding member Ed Verner said. “One of the reasons Plant City lost its original local newspaper — The Courier — was because it was taken over by companies and investors from further and further away. Before it died, it had already lost its local focus and had become a tiny tail of a weekly paper attached to a sick, fat dog daily licking its wounds in Tampa.”
Original owners of the Plant City Observer Ed Verner, Nate Kilton and Felix Haynes were later joined by Karen Berry. Over the past three weeks, that team investigated options to potentially alter the future of the publication.
“Community institutions, like schools, hospitals, governments and nonprofits, to name a few, are critically important to the fabric and vitality of a city,” Kilton said. “They act to serve people and foster engagement. A newspaper focused on local news should also be viewed as a community institution.”
The owners have expressed an interest in obtaining community input before making a final decision, though a tentative timeline has not yet been announced. It’s a long time coming, according to Verner, who said the thought entered his mind a year ago but nothing came of that passing consideration.
“It has taken some time, effort, and no small amount of capital for us to purchase all of the shares from former investors and/or joint partnership,” Verner said. “Conversion to non-profit would mean all four of us would have to be donating the entirety of our combined investment of the past eight years. Yet we have known for some time that our newspaper is not so much a great financial profit center as it is a worthy and very valuable community asset.”
From there, Verner said, the then-former owners would become the founding members of a board of directors. Additional members would likely join thereafter.
On the surface, a transition would not be very visible. Coverage would remain the same, editorial methods would not be altered in any way and the paper itself would maintain its traditional style. Behind the scenes, a few additional steps would be added to the dance and the melody would not skip a beat. A nonprofit newspaper, which is becoming increasingly common in weekly publications throughout the nation, relies on a combination of grants, donations and ad sales.
Haynes added that the ability to seek donations rather than attempt to sell subscriptions also acts as a win-win for the community. People can make tax-deductible contributions to their hometown newspaper and the paper can remain free to all who wish to read it.
No decision has been made but the conversation is currently underway. Those with opinions on the matter are invited to send their thoughts to Managing Editor Sarah Holt at sholt@plantcityobserver.com.