Why Roby Brock is investing in local newspapers

By STEVE BRAWNER

Local communities need local news, but can local newspapers still be profitable? Roby Brock believes so, which is one reason why he has bought four of them in the past seven months.

Brock, 60, is the CEO of Natural State Media, the parent company of the statewide Talk Business & Politics website and the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. He’s also the host of KARK-TV’s “Capitol View” television show, where he interviews state business and political leaders.

Through a separate venture, he’s been buying small-town newspapers. First was The England Democrat last July followed by The Waldron News, The Grand Prairie Herald, and The Fordyce News-Advocate. He’s seriously looking at two more. 

“I think that newspapers, for small communities and rural communities in particular, are still a fantastic and viable vehicle for communicating news to those communities,” he told me. “So, you ask me why I’m investing in these things personally? I think there’s still a business model there, and I think there’s still value there.”

Before continuing, I should tell you Brock is a client. He publishes this column in his newspapers. I also do some freelance writing for Talk Business. 

Many newspapers have struggled to adapt to an ever-changing economy where they must compete against Facebook, Google and other information sources for attention and ad dollars. According to Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative, almost 40% of the nation’s local newspapers have closed since 2005. 

But Brock sees both a business opportunity and an opportunity to serve communities. He’s been buying family-owned newspapers that might not have a succession plan and could use a fresh set of eyes. He believes he can make them more financially viable by trimming postage and printing expenses, and by spreading billing, layout and management costs across several newspapers.

He’s also increasing revenues by, among other ways, growing the newspapers’ digital presence. The England Democrat’s website gets more than 6,200 unique visitors each month for a town of 2,400.

Just as important as the financial side is the content. Brock said he’s trying to fill his newspapers with useful community information that previously might have been overlooked. For example, after hearing complaints about a local grocery store’s prices, he wrote a story comparing it on a dozen staple items with big box stores in Little Rock and North Little Rock. It turned out 10 of the 12 items were cheaper locally. He interviewed a University of Arkansas economist who noted that shopping out of town also adds transportation costs and results in the big city, not the local community, benefiting from the sales tax revenues. The story generated a lot of positive attention locally. 

Brock is convinced there’s still a place for local newspapers. Not everyone is glued to Fox News or CNN all day long. And, of course, those outlets don’t cover what’s happening in Fordyce or Waldron. Some readers still want to hold a physical newspaper rather than thumb through a screen, although he’s offering that, too.

“I care about community news,” he said. “I care about keeping it alive, and I think in Arkansas, it’s an important way of life. I think some of these small-town newspapers are as much of an identity for a community as a school or a local business is. If they close, you lose a piece of your identity. And so, there’s an altruistic side of me that said, ‘I want to find a way to preserve that.’”

The statewide media figure is now also covering local school board and city council meetings – and enjoying it. He said the new focus “has re-energized me in a very big way.” He gets immediate, sincere feedback, rather than the predictable partisan reactions that come with national and state political stories.

At age 60, he’s planning to work another 10 years. He hopes his work lives on.

“I would hope that that might be a little bit of a legacy, is I build some sort of business model that has some ability to be transferred to some younger people that will care about truth and news, and not spin,” he said. “And the veracity of what a news product used to do, and what several of them still do to this day, but need to do more of.” 

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 21 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.