Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Walking into the global headquarters of Leader Publications in early December, it’s clear Peggy Scott, publisher of the company’s four newspapers and Missouri Press Association’s 2025 president, is very excited.
Standing at her big desk in the front office, she’s holding a new special section appearing in that week’s edition of the Leader, so fresh it hadn’t even been put on racks or delivered to readers yet. Scott flipped the pages, smiling wide, admiring the newspaper’s first-ever holiday coloring book.
“I forgot to bring in the crayons. I was planning on us taking a break later today to color some pages,” Scott explained. The Leader staff did end up finding crayons and taking that break, a combination of stress-relieving activity combined with a bit of self-promotion for the newspaper to post on social media.
Originally from Festus, Scott studied journalism at Southeast Missouri State University before joining the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau in 1985. She says she never intended for her journalism career to lead to the publisher’s chair, managing a staff of more than 20 and being excited about a coloring book in the newspaper.
“I was happy being a reporter. I loved being in the community, writing stories and making a difference,” Scott said.
But following a demonstration Scott helped put on about using the internet in the late 1990s, she caught the eye of the Leader’s former publisher Patrick Martin and former editor Peggy Bess. “Back before the internet was everywhere, we did these presentations for people to teach them how to use it, and I guess they [Martin and Bess] liked me.”
Scott was offered a job with the Leader, a role that brought her back to her hometown in 1999. At the time, she and her husband, Rob, had four kids, ages 2, 4, 6 and 8 and the hope was that by being closer to family, they could better manage raising their young children and growing careers. It all seemed to work out as she made her way up the ranks at the newspaper company, becoming publisher in May 2022.
In that time, Leader Publications also grew, expanding from the Jefferson County Leader and Arnold-Imperial Leader that were publishing when Scott joined to include the West Side Leader in 2014 and the Eureka Leader in 2017.
Passion for community journalism
Today, Scott doesn’t get to write as much as she’d like. During this interview, she talked about sitting on a story she wanted to keep for herself. It’s about a woman in the community who makes scrapbooks with clippings from the Leader.
With other obligations, Scott was worried she wouldn’t have time to write it and would have to give the story to one of her reporters. But the story itself is the kind of feature any publisher would be excited to tell in their newspaper’s pages.
Excitement for telling stories is one piece of the Leader’s plan for staying relevant in readers’ lives.
“The delivery system is far less important than the message,” Scott said. “Right now, we get the most from print, but we have made sure we have all the ways to share our communities’ stories no matter what form it takes.”
Scott sees print making a comeback for younger newspaper readers as more of them hit various life milestones.
“I’ve always said, when you start paying property tax, that’s when you become a newspaper reader,” she said, adding, “I also think print is the new vinyl, and younger readers see newspapers as a niche product they can get excited about.
“Young people have more passion, too, for taking care of their community, for the planet and for each other,” Scott said.
Maintain journalistic relevance
Having the newspaper reflect the community is also important. Sales staff can better assist clients in finding the right advertising solutions and editorial better understand how to tell stories from the community.
But hiring new staff who want to work at a newspaper is one of the greatest challenges facing the industry right now, Scott said.
There are stopgaps to help, such as Earn Your Press Pass, which some of her newsroom employees have completed, and training opportunities like the Potter Digital Ambassadors from the Reynolds Journalism Institute that help the newspaper address shortcomings in its online presence.
“It’s always the goal to have more trained reporters because you need real journalists to tell those stories that are important to the community,” Scott said. “When people come to us, I want them to ask what it is we do here that makes us special. That’s the kind of enthusiasm I’m trying to instill in every member of our staff.”
In December, Scott was in the middle of helping organize a special sales training program through the Southeast Missouri Press Association, for which she serves as “Historian.” She was prompted to do so because a couple of her new salespeople were excited about their roles with the newspaper but needed extra training.
“They want to be here, they want to do the work, but I’m not in sales, so I can’t train them,” Scott said. “But I can find someone who can get them the tools they need to succeed.”
Channeling that enthusiasm to the benefit of the newspaper also helps remind readers and advertisers in the community why local journalism is so important.
“We’re always telling someone else’s story,” Scott said. “But if you help shape something in the community, it’s important that people know where it came from.”
Collaboration, partnerships and events
Scott believes newspapers need to be willing to experiment and branch out past publishers’ comfort zones to explore new ways of making money. In addition to established events and special sections, the Leader is often trying new things.
“We have lots going on all the time. It keeps things lively,” Scott said. “And it’s important to remember, you can’t have a second year if you don’t have a first.”
Many of the newspaper’s events are hallmarks of the community, such as a wedding fair almost as old as Leader Publications itself. The occasion sees the newspaper partner with a local charity to help raise money.
“This year, we partnered with a community theater group. I wanted a tuxedo fashion show to complement the wedding dress show, and it worked out wonderfully,” Scott said.
Scott wants to see the new-for-2024 Leader Holiday Market grow into a full-fledged Christkindlmarkt with time. Featuring 47 vendors, many of which were local to Jefferson County, and an appearance by Santa Claus (portrayed by Scott’s husband, Rob), the event seems to have established a foundation on which to grow.
Recent efforts to work with other traditional media have allowed Leader Publications to expand its reach in the region. Scott sees such working agreements becoming more important as the newspaper industry evolves.
“Collaboration and partnerships are critical for all of us and our futures,” Scott said.
An agreement with the NBC television affiliate in St. Louis has been really good for the newspaper publisher.
“We benefit from their 24/7 staff, and they benefit from us being entrenched in this community,” she explained. “That’s just not something you can reproduce unless you immerse yourself in a place.”
The newspaper has also been working with regional radio stations to share advertising, another agreement that has proven beneficial for everyone involved.
“We have skills they don’t have, and they’re able to reach an audience that we might not otherwise, so it works out to everyone’s benefit,” Scott said.
An even newer partnership is with the Twin City Area Chamber of Commerce to produce a standalone book featuring profiles of community businesses. The book will be placed at locations throughout the newspaper’s coverage area, instead of being mailed with the newspaper.
“This is a huge departure from what we usually do. Traditionally, everything has been tied to the paper’s distribution,” Scott said.
Leader Publications has also recently started work to launch a “Best of” campaign with readers voting in multiple rounds. Going live later in 2025, Scott said the combination of online components and special sections in the newspaper is very exciting.
She added that the Leader’s staff has received a lot of guidance and ideas from other newspapers around the country that have done similar campaigns, including Trevor Vernon in the Lake of the Ozarks region.
Of the various things the newspaper puts on and publishes, Scott says her favorites are the special sections involving reader participation. Of particular note is the Family Holiday Album, which sees readers send in photos from the holidays, Scott explained with a smile.
“We get all kinds of photos from the holidays,” she said. “New photos, old photos, pictures of peoples’ pets, of their families, it’s really wonderful.”
The coming year
Scott said Leader Publications continues to explore ways it can keep publishing while giving readers the quality product they’ve come to expect from its newspapers. The company’s Support Local Journalism campaign, which launched in early 2024, will return as the response from readers was immense.
One wall of the Leader’s office is covered in letters and cards from donors in the Support Local Journalism campaign who expressed their appreciation for all the work the newspaper has done over its 30-plus years.
“We received lots of donations from very small donors, $5, $10, but we’re appreciative of each one,” Scott said. Her goal for that campaign will be to eventually add an additional full-time reporter to the newsroom.
In 2025, Scott hopes Missouri Press Association’s members will take an active role in guiding the industry’s future. First up in the year will be Day at the Capitol, scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23, in Jefferson City.
Scott said she initially didn’t see the value in that event until she went to it herself, and it made her a believer in the power of meeting lawmakers where they do the people’s business.
“At first, I wasn’t sure it was that important, but now I’m a believer. Your legislators care that you come to see them in their natural habitat. We need as many of our people attending that day as possible,” Scott said.
Doing what she can to promote the newspaper industry serves another purpose more important to her personally.
“I care a lot about the people in this building and that they have a good solid place to work because I see our impact in the community every day. I know we matter to the people here, but we have to make sure others see our importance too,” Scott said.
As of sending this issue of Missouri Press News to print, Scott still hadn’t had a chance to write that story about the scrapbooking reader, although she remained optimistic. “You can’t predict the opportunity that presents tomorrow.”
Peggy Scott is MPA’s 2025 President. She officially took office on Jan. 1, after being elected during the Association’s 158th Annual Convention in Springfield. She lives in Crystal City with her husband, Rob, and they have four children.
MPA’s 159th Annual Convention and Tradeshow is scheduled for Sept. 11-13, at The Wildwood Hotel in Wildwood, Missouri. Look for more information in future editions of Missouri Press News.
