(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural
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Neosho and Aurora newspapers return to local ownership — Ozarks Alive [1]
['Kaitlyn Mcconnell']
Date: 2024-04
NEOSHO - More than 275 years of Ozarks newspaper history will once again be locally owned when the Neosho Daily News and the Aurora Advertiser are sold on Sept. 1.
As of that day, the papers' owners will change from Gannett Co., Inc., a corporate owner, to Jimmy and Rhonda Sexton, part of a Neosho family with deep roots in the region.
“I was born and raised here in town, and except for four or five years, I’ve lived here most of my life,” says Jimmy Sexton. “I told them (Gannett) several different times that if they ever wanted to sell, I’d be interested. Then they got with me a few months ago and we started working from that point.”
This acquisition is not the first time that the couple — owners of Sexton Media Group — has owned publications.
After attending then-Missouri Southern State College, and working at newspapers in Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Kansas, Sexton returned to Neosho in the late 1990s and established the Neosho Post weekly newspaper, which operated for three years before it was sold to the former owners of the Daily News.
The Sextons currently own The News-Dispatch, another local paper that dates to 1882 and previously was based in Seneca. They also own the River Hills Traveler, a monthly regional magazine in circulation for 49 years.
“It was kind of a no-brainer for us,” Sexton says of the sale. “We operate our papers with the belief that local, ‘refrigerator’ news sells. People still want to cut out pictures of their kids; they like seeing their accomplishments, their anniversaires and things. In my mind, there’s always going to be a desire and a need for print publications. We operate with the belief that if people are reading it and talking about it, then advertising and subscriptions will come.”
He pushes back on the belief that news must primarily focus on more dismal and divisive topics such as car wrecks or shootings.
“I challenge people: Is that really news? Is that really what you want to know about at nine or 10 o’clock at night (on the TV news)? Does it really make a difference in your life? Does it make a difference in anyone's lives to know about the shooting? So I challenge that. I’d like to see more good news. So in my little corner of the world, that’s what we’re doing.”
Given the Neosho paper’s location in the Newton County seat — particularly relevant for matters involving government — will the paper still focus on those things, too?
“It’ll be both,” Sexton simply says.
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[1] Url:
https://www.ozarksalive.com/stories/neosho-and-aurora-newspapers-return-to-local-ownership
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