Bismarck Takes a Chancellor on Monthly Newspaper Launch

Image via WikipediaThe Great Plains Examiner, a monthly print and online newspaper focusing on political and business news serving Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota, has launched, according to a blog post on Inforum.com.

The new publication, which prints monthly but will be updated online, is the brainchild of  32-year-old Bismarck native Matt Bunk, who serves as editor and publisher. Among the dozen or so investors, distributors and editorial types involved in the venture are writers Kelly Hagen, a former Bismarck Tribune columnist; freelancer Sarah McCurdy and history professor Steve Hoffbeck, Inforum.com reports.

Roughly 10,000 papers are distributed in Bismarck-Mandan, and both the print edition and Website access are free. The tabloid currently is looking for office space and an in-state printer.  People features, in-depth local news and investigative pieces are part of Bunk's vision for the Examiner.

News of the newspaper industry being on life-support may not yet have reached North Dakota. On the other hand, Bunk is a veteran newser and the Examiner may go far, or at least Fargo.

Death Be Not Free: PA Readers to Pay 'Obit o' Money"

Image via Wikipedia

LancasterOnline, which serves readers of the Pa. daily Intelligencer Journal Lancaster New Era, is the first outlet to flip the switch on the Steve Brill-backed Journalism Online paid content system.

After seven "free views" monthly of LancasterOnline's online obituary pages, non-Lancaster County readers will have to dole out $1.99 a month or $19.99 annually to find out which Pennsylvanians have gone from the Keystone State to a headstone state so to speak.  The editor of LancasterOnline anticipates as many as 100,000 readers outside of the area are visiting the obit pages annually, which could mean $100,000 to $500,000 in additional revenues, depending on the subscription rate.

New Yorkers, and residents of Harrisburg and Philadelphia constitute the largest percentage of out-of-area visitors to the website, according to the editor. The Lancaster daily boasts a Sunday readership of 95,000 and daily circulation of roughly 81,000. Subscribers of the print edition or of the e-edition of the Lancaster paper won't have to pay to peruse the online obits.