Publisher Dan Haley, left, talks with reporters about coverage expectations during an editorial meeting for the transition to Growing Community Media on Oct. 16 at the Wednesday Journal, Inc. office in Oak Park. (Photo by Alex Rogals/ Wednesday Journal staff photographer)

‘Moment’ of change results in formation of nonprofit to own four Chicago area weeklies

By JEFF ROGERS

Illinois Press Association

jrogers@illinoispress.org

OAK PARK – Has Dan Haley’s journalism career come full circle, or are he and the newspapers he publishes embarking on something new, uncertain and invigorating?

Well, both, actually.

Haley is editor and publisher of four weekly newspapers. Three are in near west suburban Chicago – Wednesday Journal in Oak Park, Forest Park Review, and Riverside-Brookfield Landmark. The Austin Weekly News is on Chicago’s West Side.

Like most newspapers large and small, daily and weekly, the papers Haley publishes have struggled in recent years. Ten years ago, Wednesday Journal Inc. published nine weekly newspapers and Chicago Parent Magazine. There were about 75 people working on those publications.

Today, about 20 employees work from a cozy second-floor newsroom and offices that are in a downtown Oak Park building that serves as the company’s home base. They continue to write what Haley describes as intensely local, community journalism. They continue to be among the better weekly newspapers in the state – Austin Weekly News and Wednesday Journal Group finished second and third, respectively in the Division C sweepstakes of the 2018 Illinois Press Association Editorial Contest; the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark placed third in Division A.

But revenue has lagged, enough that Haley announced in September what many would consider a radical business decision. It was, as Haley calls it, a “moment” when something needed to change.

“The last few years have been really hard,” Haley said.

That decision? The four newspapers will soon operate under a nonprofit model. By the end of the year, Wednesday Journal Inc. will be dissolved and the four newspapers will be owned by a nonprofit organization being formed called Growing Community Media. Financial donations and sponsorships will be sought, and digital subscriptions will be sold. Wednesday Journal Inc. also sold Chicago Parent Magazine.

Haley said the goal is for 30 percent to 40 percent of the funding for the print and digital operations to come from philanthropic donations to the nonprofit. Advertising will continue to be sold, as will print subscriptions. Haley said print advertising revenue has declined in recent years, but not by a lot. “Print advertising started to stabilize at the beginning of this year,” he said.

Michael Romain, editor of Austin Weekly News, Village Free Press and reporter for Wednesday Journal, works on a story Oct. 10, at the Growing Community Media office on Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park. (Photo by Alex Rogals/ Wednesday Journal staff photographer)

Attorneys continue to guide the company through the process of “unspooling” the for-profit entity. “All assets of Wednesday Journal Inc. will go into the nonprofit and Wednesday Journal Inc. will go into the history books,” Haley said.

Haley said the nonprofit business model was chosen after more than a year of discussions and exploration that included attending last year’s Institute for Nonprofit News convention in Houston.

“Our roots are deep in our communities,” Haley said. “If anyone could pull this off, it might be us.”

In many ways, Haley is at the same point of his career as he was when he and two others started publishing newspapers in the west-side neighborhoods he grew up in.

“We were about six months into Wednesday Journal back in 1980 and the money we'd raised was running out,” Haley wrote in his announcement to readers on Sept. 11. “The check to the printer the previous week had bounced — not by much but it bounced — and now the printer wanted a certified check before he'd print the next issue.

“That was a moment. And I remember thinking as a chastened 24-year-old, ‘This is the greatest job ever but, Dan, you don't have a God-given right to publish this newspaper. Figure it out. Make this work.’”

So, he and his business partners went out and sought shareholders to buy stock in Wednesday Journal Inc. They found about 60 people to make investments in relatively small amounts, most around $1,000. That gave the startup company enough financial runway to get off the ground.

Andy Mead, editorial designer, works at his desk Oct. 10 at the Growing Community Media office on Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park. (Photo by Alex Rogals/ Wednesday Journal staff photographer)

During our interview in his Oak Park office, Haley made repeated references to a printed sheet with a promotional advertisement from 1980 that displayed the names of each of the papers’ investors. Today, there remains 14 shareholders, including Haley and his wife, Mary.

“It feels like we’ve come full circle,” Haley said of the company’s current status. “… We’d reached another moment when we knew we were going to have to do something different if we were going to survive.”

While nonprofit journalism has been booming in recent years, Haley said he’s not aware of any other weekly newspapers employing the nonprofit approach. Most nonprofits, he pointed out, are digital-only products, and there a few daily print product examples nationally.

Haley and others have begun reaching out to community organizations and individuals to make their pitch. That pitch, essentially, is that the West Side neighborhoods are full of very worthy nonprofit entities that are important to the community. “At the end of the conversation … we ask, ‘Where would a nonprofit community journalism project fit in your rankings of worthy entities?”

The responses so far, Haley said, have been “gratifying.”

“Oak Park would not be the same place if the Wednesday Journal had not been here the past 40 years.”

But something else interesting has happened, said Dawn Ferencak, the papers’ associate publisher and chief revenue officer who leads the ad sales efforts.

“I think our advertisers now see us as more of a community partner than they did before,” she said. “By sharing our message, they have a deeper respect for what we do for the community and what we mean to the community.”

Marc Stopeck, Answer Book editor, works at his desk Oct. 10 at the Growing Community Media office on Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park.  (Photo by Alex Rogals/ Wednesday Journal staff photographer)

That’s a message Haley encourages other publishers to spread in their own communities. What would his message be to others who might consider a nonprofit or hybrid model?

“To most people in our situation, I would say face the reality that our model is broken,” he said. “There was a process I went through of saying, ‘It’s not your fault, Dan. The world changed around you, and now you have to adapt to it.

“Accept the reality, have faith in your community that they will see the value in the work you’ve done over time. … You have a foundation of readership and advertisers, you are in great shape. Be proud of the asset that has been built, and that take that asset in a new way.”

In fact, Haley plans on continuing to build on that asset by sharpening the focus of coverage on the “normalcy” of life in the seven communities his papers serve. He thinks the new model will actually allow him to add staff and reporting beats. And, given the feedback she’s received from advertisers, Ferencak is projecting an increase in ad revenues.

“There’s an enormous positive energy,” Haley said. “It’s invigorating.”

The editorial staff listens to Dan Haley, the publisher, go over material Oct. 16 during an editorial meeting for the transition to Growing Community Media at the Wednesday Journal, Inc. office in Oak Park. (Photo by Alex Rogals/ Wednesday Journal staff photographer)