Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

2 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

2 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

2 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

3 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

3 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

3 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

3 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

3 days ago
New England Newspaper Owner Fights to Save Local Journalism
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
June 19, 2019

Share

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Eagle has an expanded investigative team. There’s a new 12-page lifestyle section for the Eagle’s Sunday editions. There’s a new monthly magazine focusing on the area’s culinary and natural charms. There is an advisory board that includes cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Pulitzer-winning writer Elizabeth Kolbert.
The newspaper is wider, its paper thicker. There’s even a second daily crossword puzzle.
A hiring flurry, driven by new owners, has brought more than 50 new jobs to the western Massachusetts daily and its three sister papers in Vermont. The idea: Investing in the newsroom will translate into more paying readers.
It’s a leap of faith at a time of relentlessly bad news for the local news industry: Newsroom employment down by nearly half over the past 15 years. Waves of layoffs continuing to hit both traditional newspaper chains and digital news startups. Some cities and towns so denuded of coverage that they’re described as “news deserts.”
Three years ago, Fredric Rutberg, a retired local district judge, pulled together a group of local investors who bought the small newspaper company from a hedge fund-backed media chain with a reputation for cost-cutting and layoffs.
So far, readers have trickled, not flocked, back to the flagship Berkshire Eagle, the only daily newspaper in the hilly westernmost region of Massachusetts, where 130,000 people are scattered across 30-plus towns and villages.

Level of Involvement a Thrilling Contrast

“Our business plan was simply to increase the quality of the content and attract new readers,” Rutberg said. “We’ve made more than a bona fide effort at the first part. We are in the second right now, and the jury’s out.”
Rutberg, 73, is relishing the challenge.

“Our business plan was simply to increase the quality of the content and attract new readers. We’ve made more than a bona fide effort at the first part. We are in the second right now, and the jury’s out.” — Fredric Rutberg, a retired local district judge
He hosts gatherings around town called “Coffee with the President,” promoting the Eagle’s award-winning stories while mollifying readers who grumble if the newspaper is delivered late. He regularly visits the Vermont newspapers and pursues strategies for revenue diversification, including a planned in-house ad-agency.
For executive editor Kevin Moran, this level of involvement is a thrilling contrast to the Eagle’s former corporate owners. During a rare visit from them in 2015, the agenda was mostly budget cuts.
Shortly afterward, Moran said, he oversaw the layoffs of 19 people at the four newspapers, one of his lowest moments in a two-decade career spent rising through the ranks of the Eagle and its affiliated newspapers. The year before, 18 positions had already been cut.
Rutberg and his three partners seized a short window of opportunity when Alden Global Capital was putting several of its newspapers up for sale following failed negotiations to sell off the company’s media properties, known as Digital First Media, to a private equity firm.
Through a spokeswoman, Molly Curry, Digital First declined to comment for this story. In the past, Digital First has countered criticism of its tactics, saying it runs “newspapers profitably and sustainably so that they can continue to serve their local communities.”
Photo of Phil Viscuso flipping through a copy of The Berkshire Eagle Newspaper
Phil Viscuso, owner of East Street Auto Sales, flips through a copy The Berkshire Eagle Newspaper at his shop in Pittsfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Reporters Delve Into Communities’ Troubles

Advertising and circulation declines have ravaged the newspaper industry generally for more than a decade. It remains to be seen how sustainable the expanded Eagle will be under its new owners.
But if they fail, it won’t be for lack of effort.
They swiftly set out to transform the paper, down to replacing thin newsprint that curled in humid weather. They wanted a “world-class” arts and culture section, worthy of a region that boasts the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home and a theater scene that lures Hollywood stars.
Popular with New York tourists and second-home owners, the Berkshire region has struggled with an exodus of its working-age population, particularly since top employer General Electric packed up and left in the 1980s and 90s.
The Eagle’s reporters delve into the troubles of communities overshadowed by New York City to the south and Boston to the east. They have won awards for investigations into the decaying state of bridges and the struggle to bring broadband internet to rural areas.
The hard part is persuading the people of the Berkshires to pay for such coverage.
The Eagle’s overall paid circulation fell more than 20 percent during the first year under new ownership. Rutberg counts it as an achievement that circulation remained mostly stable the second year, at more than 15,000 on weekdays and nearly 18,000 on Sundays, still half what it was a decade ago.
On the bright side, digital subscriptions are ticking up.

Social Media Drives a Third of Newspaper’s Digital Traffic

Like many newspapers, the Eagle increasingly relies on revenue from paid subscriptions, as major advertisers migrate to online giants such as Facebook and Google.
The paper charges $13 a month for a digital-only subscription, letting people read three articles online before hitting the paywall. Social media drives a third of the newspaper’s digital traffic, but many readers bristle at being asked to pay for content they see on Facebook.

“I just don’t have time to sit down and read an entire newspaper. I’m on Facebook 10 minutes a day. I’m not going to get $13 worth of news.” Jenna Lanphear, 40, a Pittsfield beauty salon owner
“I just don’t have time to sit down and read an entire newspaper. I’m on Facebook 10 minutes a day. I’m not going to get $13 worth of news,” said Jenna Lanphear, a 40-year-old Pittsfield beauty salon owner.
A recent Pew Research Center study found this to be typical. Only 14% of American adults said they had paid for local news within the past year, via subscription, donation or membership.
Lanphear did sign up her 13-year-old daughter for a summit of high school journalists organized by the Eagle’s education reporter, Jenn Smith. The summit is one of many community events the newspaper has started to host to restore itself as the center of civic life.
In January, Rutberg wrote a column in the Eagle appealing for several hundred new subscribers.
“We are going to stick with this,” he said. “This is our commitment as long as humanly possible.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

UP NEXT

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

UP NEXT

Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package

UP NEXT

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

UP NEXT

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Tesla Executive, Elon Musk Confidant Leaves EV Maker, Bloomberg News Reports

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

2 days ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

2 days ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

2 days ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

2 days ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

2 days ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Can you hear it — that loud roar coming from the East? It’s the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us. Thomas L. Friedman The New Yo...

18 hours ago

Solar Farm in Riesel, Texas
18 hours ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Caitlin Clark Signs T-Shirt
18 hours ago

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 70,801 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, afternoon, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
2 days ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend