Small-Town Duel   

Women launch second weekly, bringing competition to North Mancester, Indiana.

In a small Indiana town surrounded by cornfields, a newspaper battle is under way.

The stage was set two years ago when Indianapolis attorney James Odom bought the town of North Manchester's 128-year-old weekly newspaper, the News-Journal.

Odom's modifications to the paper didn't sit well with some of the town's 6,500 residents, who complained of less local coverage and a conservative editorial stance. Odom's increased focus on national affairs, complete with syndicated columnists and comics, came at the expense of local coverage, some residents said. Odom also changed the weekly format to two issues per week.

Fed up with the changes, two readers, Paula Adams and Judy Moore, decided to launch a rival weekly, the Manchester Monitor.

Copublishers Adams, a former English teacher, and Moore, who owns the local hardware store, were short on newspaper experience but not on commitment to the idea of an independent, community-owned paper. "News is fundamental to democracy," they wrote in an editorial in the inaugural October 2 issue. "Without solid information on our public life, we cannot intelligently govern ourselves."

Adams and Moore raised funds by asking fellow residents to contribute money to their mission, but Adams warned, "Don't put anything into it you can't lose, because we're not sure we're going to make it."

Response to the new publication has been "very positive" says Editor J.D. Denny, 33. About 10 people showed up at the paper's office asking for a subscription that first day of publication. Two months later, the Monitor, with one part-time and four full-time staffers, boasts 1,200 subscribers, gaining on the News-Journal, with a circulation of 2,000.

"People appreciate the more newsworthy articles in the Monitor," says Oren Wagner, who works at the town's Blue Lion Coffee Shop, which advertises in the Monitor. Articles include such things as class field trips to the town's public safety building and whether or not the library's cat, Miss Peabody, should be allowed to roam freely through the stacks.

The arrival of the upstart Monitor quickly caused a shakeup at its rival. The paper's owner, Odom, made a sudden announcement in November that he was leaving his paper and North Manchester. The News-Journal's previous owner, Worth Weller, returned to take control of the embattled paper.

The News-Journal's current editor and publisher, North Manchester native Tim McLaughlin, says Odom was never really accepted by town residents, many of whom took offense at the Christian editorials. "He didn't make a big effort to become a part of the community, and in a small town that certainly works against you," McLaughlin says. McLaughlin, 29, who's been with the paper for nine years, says he's already turning things around. The syndicated columnists and comics are history, making way for more local coverage, and the paper has returned to its once-a-week format.

But as many towns lack even one newspaper, can North Manchester support two? Denny admits there probably will be a lot of overlap in coverage but says, "We're trying to give perspective to the issues and provide readers not only the news, but also how the news affects a typical resident of North Manchester."

Edited by Jill Rosen