TV weatherman saves newspapers, forecasts fair winds and growth

It looked stormy when an Iowa company decided in March to stop publishing 18 rural newspapers.

But the clouds are clearing and 13 have been acquired by local owners, including Chris Nelson, a former TV meteorologist who bought five of them.

The rest may also be saved through a promising new approach. It could offer a model for addressing one of the biggest challenges facing America's news industry and its civic literacy: finding a new generation of publishers for rural newspapers that in many places are the only source of local journalism.

We still want to make sure that these newspapers don't go away because if they do, small-town communities will start to crumble," Nelson said by phone.

Iowa's Mid-America Publishing planned to cease publishing in April. But it may continue operating until the last few are acquired, potentially into June, under an innovative approach by the Iowa Press Association.

The association is working with Mid-America to keep the papers going with a form of bridge funding, giving them and potential buyers a better chance to succeed.

Weeklies generally depend on revenue from legal notices published by local governments. If they stop publishing, they lose those contracts for an extended period. It also handicaps new owners if relationships with advertisers and subscribers are interrupted.

"It's something new that we're trying in Iowa," said Debbie Anselm, executive director of the association.

"It prevents a news desert," Anselm explained. "It gives people time to look at opportunities, look at ways of seeing what kind of collaborations and opportunities might be out there before we just abandon an area."

Anselm said details of Iowa's arrangement will be released soon. It could be something for other state associations to replicate, though it will depend on whether they have resources to provide a bridge, cooperative sellers and markets with potential buyers.

Illinois tried something similar with legislation that's had mixed results. Since early 2025 it's required media companies to give four months' notice of a sale to employees, local governments and nonprofits, providing a chance to find local buyers. But it failed a test when eight newspapers were sold, with little notice, to an out-of-state company in September.

Philanthropists like Press Forward trying to save local journalism should note Iowa's success and consider helping associations create revolving bridge funds. So far nearly all their grants have gone to urban areas, not rural areas. Helping save established outlets seems more efficient than starting from scratch.

A bridge fund might have helped the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association save the historic La Conner Weekly News. It tried to mediate a sale to a community group but the paper still closed in late 2024. A promising new one started printing the following March but faces extra hurdles, like having to bid for legal notices.

"I'm not a business broker but I do think there is a tremendous opportunity for state associations to find solutions for our succession challenges," said Ellen Hiatt, WNPA's executive director.

Iowa's results also make the case for saving newspapers. Buyers still see opportunities in these local businesses, despite the industry's overall decline.

Nelson developed a model - he calls it "Nelsonizing" - for assessing whether markets can support one of his newspapers and operating them.

If there are fewer than 300 subscribers it probably won't succeed. But if there are 600 to 1,000 and the county publishes lots of legal notices, "there's a pretty good chance that we're going to be able to make money from this," he said.

"There's actually a formula in my head of what I think can work and what can't work," he said. "It really comes down to, how many people are we serving, what are the potential for subscriptions and advertising, and then how many public notices are available to us. The fourth leg, and maybe the most important for the future, is what kind of digital (business) can we generate?"

Newspapers are ancillary to Nelson's core business, a video production and marketing firm he started after leaving his TV job during the pandemic. It's based in St. Ansgar but moving to Mason City.

While Nelson wants to save newspapers to continue their journalism and community service, they're also a way for Nelson Media Company to enter new markets. Its services are sold along with newspaper advertising, growing the whole enterprise.

"It's worked out really, really well," he said. "We've expanded significantly in our video production division of the company. We offer things like marketing strategy, graphic designing, copywriting, you name it."

Nelson's publishing foray began when The Denmark News, a weekly in his hometown of Denmark, Wis., was at risk of closing. In 2022 it became the first of 11 weeklies he owns, mostly in Iowa.

Nelson employs nearly 50 people, including about 40 across the newspapers. He said all but one paper are doing well and he's expecting them to have profit margins between 10% and 20%.

"For me it's just really about growth," he said. "We want to grow but we want to grow in the right way. And secondly, it's trying to maintain and hold these legacy media entities because there's still value there."

Nelson acquired five Mid-America papers and consolidated them into three.

"To be honest, we're looking at actually purchasing more, potentially more from Mid-America Publishing, and potentially a couple more in Wisconsin from a different company," he said.

Nelson sees local papers as the heart of small towns. It's important for such places to have a downtown, good schools and local media, he said.

"They need it and they want it, and if they don't have it, there are a lot of things that are lost," he said. "In my opinion, you lose that ability to hold the powerful accountable. You lose the ability to cover city beats, you lose the ability to cover some investigative reporting, but even the really important and fun stories are lost."

That includes school sports, student achievements and other stories that families - including Nelson's - clipped and saved for generations.

"Those are still really important to me, and that's really what we want to hold and value, is small communities in the Midwest and the United States," he said. "It's really been my passion and my goal to try to save these newspapers.

This is a welcome sunbreak and warming trend, and one that should extend beyond the Midwest.

Correction: My April 5 column incorrectly said a nonprofit received the Washington News Fund's first grant. It went to Commoner, a for-profit company, to fund its Washington State News Alliance project.

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