What is the Marshall County Tribune newspaper?
Reporter and columnist Paul Mitchell reports on the community newspaper, which he said had a “high bar” for quality, which was reflected in its circulation.
“You can’t get the same quality from two different papers,” he said.
“We are trying to make sure that we deliver the same news and the same stories.”
The newspaper was founded in 2004 by former journalist, Paul Marshall, after he left his job in the industry.
Marshall said the local paper had “some problems, but the main issue was we didn’t deliver enough news and we didn´t do enough in terms of the quality of the news”.
Mr Mitchell said the newspaper had been “fiercely loyal” to Mr Marshall’s legacy.
He said it was the “highest priority” for the Herald and Courier to keep the local Herald running.
The Herald and Herald Courier has also been the main newspaper of the Marshall county government.
The Herald and Chronicle, a weekly newspaper in nearby Minto, was also established by Marshall.
“The people are still the people,” he told ABC Radio National.
Marshall said the Marshall newspaper was “not a reflection of Marshall County”.
“I think there are some issues that need to be resolved with Marshall County, so that we don’t have to resort to the Herald or the Courier anymore,” he added.
‘No one likes us’ The Marshall County Herald was created as an alternative to the local newspaper in an effort to keep people informed, he said, but that did not last long.
During the period when the local Marshall newspaper closed in 2014, Mr Mitchell said it published “just about every article that was published on the local media”.
In December, the Herald & Courier’s owner, The Herald & Gazette, was found guilty of $15,000 for breaching a duty of fair dealing and ethics by failing to disclose the fact that the newspaper was owned by Marshall County Council.
In February, the newspaper’s owner was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $2,500.
Mr Marshall said while the Herald&Ciggan had “taken a lot of heat”, he was proud of the newspaper.
He said it had “always been about getting the news and getting the information out”.
He also said it could not be “just a Marshall County issue” because “the people in Marshall County don’t like us”.
“We are not the same as any other newspaper, and they can tell that to the people who are in Marshall and they will tell them we are not, and we are,” he explained.
A Marshall County council spokesman said the decision to close the Marshall Newspapers was taken in October 2015, after “a thorough investigation”.
The spokesperson said it took into account a range of factors including the fact Marshall County had been hit hard by the global financial crisis and was not “recovering from the recession that it had experienced before”.
It said the closure was not because of financial constraints, but “the inability to meet the increasing demand for news”.
“We took a number of steps in response to this situation,” the spokesman said.
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