“Communities without papers at all… what you’re seeing is civic engagement goes down and voter turnout goes down.”
MINEOLA, Texas — Phil and Lesa Major bought the Wood County Monitor in 2019, knowing they’d continue a tradition that dated back to the late 1800s.
The Monitor is the small town newspaper of Mineola and surrounding areas. It has a circulation of 1,500 and it covers roughly 300 square miles.
“You know the old New York Times saying, ‘All the news fit to print?’ Ours is the opposite, ‘all the news that fits we print,'” said Phil.
Phil has spent 44 years in news and their operation is one of the last beacons of true community journalism. Small-town newspapers are losing subscribers by the month.
At the Monitor, Phil obviously wears many hats. Lesa does the business side and some graphics work, while their son, Sam, does photography and digital and occasionally writes. They also have a couple of freelance writers along with an office staff member. Every person plays a crucial role in putting the Thursday paper together.
“He’s the listener, I’m the talker,” said Lesa. “What he can do, I can’t do. What I do, he can’t do. Not very well.”
Phil went to the University of Texas and came back with a history degree. He saw an ad in the morning paper where a publication was looking for a reporter back in the late 1970s. The family has a passion for news and feels it’s their civic duty to inform and educate the public.
“I’d rather work for me than somebody else,” Phil said.
Now he documents history for the weekly Thursday paper. On the schedule weekly is a full slate of city, school board, chamber meetings, weekend events, and high school sports.
“They’ve come up with the term ‘news deserts.’ Communities without papers at all and what you’re seeing is civic engagement goes down and voter turnout goes down,” said Phil.
Here and everywhere, subscriptions are going down for print. They’re fighting, like many, to keep the paper alive for an audience desperate for local news.
A Pew Research study shows overall weekday circulation is down 40% since 2015. At the same time, total Sunday circulation has fallen 45% since 2015.
“It’s the social media that comes along, the recession that comes along, it’s the pandemic that comes along. All of them take a bite!” said Phil.
The reality is Phil and Lesa do want to retire soon. What that means for the paper is unknown. In 2022, the paper won four awards from the Texas Press Association. The Monitor was awarded first place in advertising and public notice.