Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Recently, our press printed its first edition for another newspaper publication and I found myself standing over the stacks longer than I normally would after a run finished.
Part of it was excitement because taking on another print job is a big deal for us. In a business where so many conversations revolve around cutbacks, shrinking staffs and newspapers closing entirely, there is something genuinely encouraging about hearing a press running for another community paper instead of hearing about another one shutting down.
The other part of it, though, came from reading an article in the paper explaining to readers why some things looked a little different than before.
The article explained rising printing costs had forced the publication to search for another option. It talked about how much the staff appreciated where the paper had been printed previously and the change was not necessarily something anyone wanted to make, but something that became necessary in order to continue producing the paper in a financially sustainable way.
It also noted every press operates differently. Some presses can handle more color pages than others. Some require page counts to fall a certain way because of the way the paper folds and runs through the machine. Even little things readers might notice, like color placement, section arrangement or page counts, can change depending on the press printing the paper.
It was a thoughtful explanation to readers, and honestly, it made me stop and think about how little most people probably know about what it actually takes to keep a local newspaper alive in 2026.
It seems a lot of people assume newspapers are disappearing simply because of social media or because “everything is online now,” but the reality is much more complicated than that. Social media certainly changed the way people consume information, but one of the biggest challenges newspapers face is simply the cost of continuing to physically exist.
Printing a newspaper is expensive.
Not expensive in the abstract sense where people casually say everything costs more now, but expensive in a very literal week-to-week operational sense. Paper prices increase, ink costs climb and both postage and fuel continue getting more expensive.
Additionally, equipment parts become harder to find. Repairs to older presses can cost enormous sums, especially since many newspaper presses have already been running for decades.
Unlike digital publishing, where posting another story online costs almost nothing once the infrastructure is in place, every additional page in a printed newspaper incurs a physical cost. Every insert has a cost. Every section has a cost. Every extra copy printed has a cost.
Even something as simple as color can become a complicated conversation because presses are designed differently and have different limitations.
Readers may only notice one page changed from color to black and white, but behind the scenes, there were probably multiple conversations trying to figure out the way to make the numbers work while still giving readers the best paper possible.
Most readers never see those conversations.
What arrives in the mailbox each week or sits in a rack at the grocery store is simply the finished product.
Behind the scenes, though, somebody is trying to keep a decades-old press running through another breakdown. Production nights sometimes involve rerunning papers because something shifted mechanically halfway through a job. There is also the constant balancing act between covering local news properly while still trying to keep subscription prices affordable for readers who are dealing with rising costs themselves.
And honestly, most newspapers do not spend much time discussing those things because the focus has always been on getting the paper out, not on drawing attention to how difficult that process has become.
That is part of why reading the explanation from another publication stood out to me so much. It was honest without sounding bitter. It acknowledged reality without acting like local newspapers are doomed. It simply explained changes had to be made in order to continue moving forward.
I respected that.
I also found myself thinking about how unusual the newspaper industry really is when you step back and look at it. In most businesses, competitors are competitors and that is the end of the discussion. But newspapers have always had this strange understanding between them because everyone in the industry knows what is at stake if local papers disappear completely.
When one newspaper closes, another community loses its historical record.
People hear that phrase a lot, but I don’t think they always stop to think about what it actually means.
Local newspapers document the everyday life of a community in a way almost nobody else does. They record school board decisions, city council arguments, county commission projects, high school sports seasons, local business openings, obituaries, retirements, anniversaries, fundraisers and all the small moments that may not seem historically important in the moment but become incredibly important years later.
A social media post disappears almost immediately into an endless feed of newer content. Websites change constantly and accounts get deleted. Platforms rise and fall every few years. Printed newspapers remain.
Decades from now, somebody can still walk into a library, open an archive and find out what was happening in their town in May of 2026. They can see what people were worried about, what projects were being discussed, who graduated and which local organizations were trying to improve their communities.
Without local newspapers, a lot of those stories simply stop being preserved in any meaningful way.
Maybe that sounds dramatic to some people, but working in newspapers has made me realize how often communities rely on old newspaper archives to reconstruct their own history.
Families look up old articles about relatives who passed away years ago.
Researchers dig through archives trying to understand the way towns developed over time. Former students look up sports coverage from decades earlier. Historical societies rely heavily on newspaper records because sometimes they are the only consistent documentation a community has. Even cities, nonprofits and local organizations often rely on newspaper coverage when applying for grants or documenting the impact projects and events had within a community over time.
It matters more than people realize while they are casually flipping through pages at the kitchen table.
Standing there looking over another publication’s freshly printed papers also made me think about how many local newspapers are still fighting incredibly hard to survive despite all the obstacles in front of them. A lot of people in this industry could have given up years ago. Honestly, it probably would have been easier in some cases.
Instead, newspapers keep adapting.
They redesign pages, adjust print schedules, combine resources and invest in digital coverage while still trying to maintain print editions. Many publications partner with other newspapers and presses when necessary and make difficult decisions because the alternative is allowing another community newspaper to disappear entirely.
In an era where local journalism is constantly being described in terms of decline, there was something reassuring about standing in a pressroom watching another community’s newspaper come rolling off the line page by page.
Not because everything is easy right now, which it definitely isn't, but because local newspapers remain present, continue to adapt and keep finding ways to persist.
This column was written by Miranda Jamison for the Richmond News/Excelsior Springs Standard. It is republished here with permission.
