TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Toledo Free Press Publisher Tom Pounds says the paper will be shutting down operations. Pounds says financial troubles are the reason he's closing the paper.
"When you can't pay your bills, you don't keep going," Pounds said Monday.
Pounds says about 50 families in total will be impacted by the decision to cease publication. That includes 10 full-time employees, as well as writers, paper carriers, artists and others who worked on the Free Press's weekly issues.
Even as he announced the decision to shut down, Pounds said he's proud of what the Free Press has accomplished over the past decade.
"I think we changed the landscape. I think we changed the way people report news...We had to work a little harder, I think. Everyone did, and that's a good thing. In my opinion, competition's a good thing," said Pounds. "We were given six months to live when we started, and here it is 10 years later."
Pounds issued the following statement Monday:
Between years of legal wrangling and ongoing struggles with predatory ad pricing from a competitor, business conditions are such that we can no longer continue.
When I started Toledo Free Press 10 years ago, I pledged this newspaper would be honest, objective, transparent, accessible and would treat readers with respect. We set out to take a glass half full approach to the Glass City and the region without shying away from hard questions and difficult truths.
I think we've accomplished all that and much more, including five consecutive nods for "Best Weekly Newspaper in Ohio" from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. We'll find out later this year if we won one more.
In the end, while delivering news is a right, it is also a privilege, one that we can no longer afford to provide.
Closing hurts, but even more painful would be to never have tried. This newspaper has been a dream. We have enjoyed offering area readers an alternate voice and relished the challenge of changing the status quo of news reporting in Toledo. By adding to the conversation, we did what we set out to do, and I'm proud of the work we've done.
While our last print issue was April 26, we will continue to post some remaining content on our website and social media accounts for the next few weeks.
I'd like to thank founding Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller and current Editor in Chief Sarah Ottney for their passion and dedication. Thank you to our hardworking staff, generous investors, loyal advertisers and network of dedicated freelancers and carriers. Most importantly, thanks to you, our readers, for supporting a small local business and a free press.
