Passing the press(ure) : the emotional and paternalistic struggle of succession planning for small-town newspaper owners
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Small-town newspapers are vital civic lifelines but face an escalating succession crisis as owners age and struggle to identify successors that can maintain community trust and journalistic integrity. This study examines how 15 owners of weekly newspapers in Missouri navigate succession planning amid economic precarity and deep communal obligations. Through semi-structured interviews, thematically analyzed, three key themes emerged: anxiety and avoidance of succession planning, a preference for local successors and the journalistic paternalism that shapes their decisions within their publication. Findings reveal that these affective and moral dynamics can stall the creation of succession steps, prolong indefinite stewardship and heighten the risk of closure. By foregrounding small-town newspaper owners' internal deliberations, this research fills a critical gap in local journalism scholarship and highlights the need for succession strategies that honor owners' attachments while creating practical pathways to sustain small-town news for years to come.
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M.A.