It’s hard to believe that officially one year ago this month, the first issue of the Wright County Journal was published after the official merger of both the Mountain Grove News-Journal and Mansfield Mirror.
During the past calendar year, we were able to provide critical information during the COVID-19 pandemic, offer quality coverage of storms, provide election coverage with both previews and results, publish several local features and news stories, informed readers weekly on upcoming events, all while providing extensive coverage of Wright County’s school districts when it comes to education items and sports. Meanwhile, we’ve also put an emphasis on ensuring that submitted news and sports items were published in a more timely manner.
While there is always a chance that a story did not get in immediately due to a strange situation, for the most part, we have been able to publish submitted items either the week of receiving it or publish the submitted item in the following issue. This is an area I began to fix when I came to the newspaper in 2019. While a couple of stories have slipped through the cracks during the past couple of years, for the most part, this situation has been resolved.
This change has been well received by many people who have been submitting news and sports content in recent years.
It has been a busy, yet very exciting first year for the Wright County Journal.
I know I’ve personally enjoyed writing countless stories and publishing several photos I’ve taken for our readers during the inaugural year of the newspaper under a new name.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that one year after changing the name of the newspaper, I would find myself as the publication’s newest owner.
I officially purchased the newspaper back on April 23, which led me to one full month of transition from one operating company to another. This meant a transition of accounting services, payroll services, circulation software and countless other items like utilities, internet provider, business insurance, the list goes on.
Throw in the many hours spent weekly on publishing a weekly newspaper and producing a special graduation section in just the second week of ownership, the first month as an owner has been extremely busy.
I have worked many late nights during this transition, but that comes with the added responsibility.
By God’s grace, the transition has went rather smoothly.
In the next month, you will begin to see some changes in the publication. There will be an improvement in the coverage of some areas in the county. There will also be a revised church section that will be appealing to readers and advertisers alike.
I’m also up for suggestions of things you would like to see weekly, biweekly or monthly in the newspaper.
Please let me know your thoughts by calling 417-926-5148 or by sending an email to editor@ozarkmedia.com.
