'Home Town' Emphasis Was Key To Saving Eight Wyoming Newspapers

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https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/08/16/bill-sniffin-home-town-emphasis-was-key-to-saving-eight-wyoming-newspapers/

Bill Sniffin: ‘Home Town’ Emphasis Was Key To Saving Eight Wyoming Newspapers

Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “Folks in eight Wyoming towns breathed a big sigh of relief when the announcement was made that veteran newspaper publishers Robb and Jen Hicks of Buffalo plus Rob Mortimore of Torrington were stepping in to save the publications.”

Bill Sniffin
August 16, 2025

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Well, this past week, we heard about eight towns (Torrington, Wheatland, Guernsey, Pinedale, Bridger Valley, Lusk, Evanston, and Kemmerer) becoming “news deserts.”
Even in a depressed condition, local newspapers provide key information. About government meetings, births and deaths, little league team victories, lots of stuff about the local school systems . . . the list is almost endless.

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Our hats go off to Robb and Jen Hicks of Buffalo who teamed with Rob Mortimore of Torrington to somehow revive the eight newspapers that were closed almost on a whim by an Illinois corporation.

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That’s what happened recently to eight Wyoming newspapers owned by News Media Corporation. Without notice, the offices locked their doors. Websites stopped updating mid-sentence. Subscribers, reporters and advertisers found out at the same time: it was over. The cause was not a shortage of stories to tell, but a debt so deep that the company could no longer keep its promises.
These were not just businesses on a ledger; they were lifelines for their communities. A local paper is where the town sees itself reflected – school board votes, high school game scores, new business openings, obituaries, court records, the occasional triumph, the occasional scandal. Without it, something essential is missing, and that absence is not easily filled.
The Buffalo Bulletin is not owned by a distant corporation. We live here. We raise our children here. We work in the newsroom and out on the street. We know the stories because we live here. When the parade turns up Fort Street to avoid Main Street construction, we are there. When a blizzard closes the mountain pass, we’re already on the phone.

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[EYESORE 9001]

1. People actually want articles relevant to their city or neighborhood?

What a concept!

I’ve noticed a trend in local news reported on broadcast stations in my market: less and less local news. Instead, the stations run content with a national interest acquired from corporate overlords. These stations have always given preferential treatment to the cities closest to their studios, and I get it. Thats where the population center lies. Living on the far outskirts of this metro area means that our local coverage has gone from dreary to dismal.