Working at Weekly Community Newspapers

Great Training, Low Pay

By Tony Rogers, About.com Guide

Weekly community papers are where many journalists get their start. There are literally thousands of such papers found in towns, boroughs and hamlets across the country, and chances are you’ve seen them or perhaps picked one up on a newsstand outside a grocery store or local business.

Most are free, supported solely by advertising. Some are individually owned and operated, while many others are part of chains that can include dozens of papers.

So what are the pros and cons of working at a community weekly?

Pro: Learning To Do Everything

Community weeklies typically have very small staffs, which means the journalists who work there usually do a bit of everything, from writing and editing stories to taking pictures, doing layout and even creating webpages. On a community weekly you might cover a school board meeting, a high school football game and the opening of a new exhibit at the local gallery – all in one day. In a time when versatility is the name of the game in the news business, working at a community weekly is great training.

There are also opportunities to move up the ranks quickly. A reporter at a big paper can labor for years to become, say, a high-ranking editor, but at a small paper a hard-working scribe can often become editor-in-chief within a matter of months.

Another pro is the small-town feel of community papers. Many reporters enjoy the close connection to their local community that working at a weekly provides. Often they get to know literally everyone in town, from the fire chief to the mayor to the school board president. Large daily papers in major metro areas usually can’t offer that same sense of connectedness.

Con: The Pay

Probably the biggest downside of working at a community paper is the pay, which is generally lousy. The are exceptions of course, but most reporters who work at weeklies find they have to do some freelancing on the side or work an extra job just to make ends meet.

Another possible downside: journalistic integrity. Many community weeklies are objective, hard-hitting publications that take pride in covering the news “without fear or favor.”

But others, because they are so dependent on advertising dollars, often publish articles that are little more than press releases for their advertisers. Or, fearful of alienating the locals, some community weeklies will go easy on local politicians and turn a blind eye to corruption and abuses of power.

The moral of the story? If you’re considering working for a community weekly, check it out carefully. Is good solid reporting being done there, or is the paper little more than a public relations tool for local businesses and politicians? If it’s the latter, steer clear.

Required Training

Many reporters start out at community weeklies with just a two-year Associates degree from a community college and little in the way of journalism experience. Indeed, community papers are probably the easiest way to break into the news business for someone who doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree or years of journalism experience.

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