I keep getting dragged back into discussions about newspapers, writes Kevin Slimp.

As I try to slow down the amount of consulting and speaking that I do, I find myself getting pulled back into the newspaper business rather frequently. It happened again this week when I posted something on LinkedIn related to successful newspapers. More than one LinkedIn member wrote with a question that went something like this: “How can you write that some newspapers are successful when my newspaper is doing so poorly?”

For some reason, my LinkedIn posts get a lot of notice. That’s funny because I once wrote that, “If I wanted to host a birthday party and make sure no one attended, I’d send out the invitations on LinkedIn.” Let’s face it, LinkedIn seems primarily to be built around people promoting themselves online. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just find it interesting that it gets so much attention.

Even with that, I’m guilty of making the rare post on LinkedIn. I created a couple of posts this week related to newspapers. They seem to be getting “shared” a lot, and the impressions for one of them are nearing 30,000. To be clear, “impressions” don’t mean a lot. It only means that a post appeared on members’ screens that many times. When I checked the LinkedIn analytics to see how many actually looked at that particular post, it was closer to 18,000.

In addition to viewers, I heard from a lot of LinkedIn members. I was surprised to hear from CEOs of some of the largest newspapers in the US. I heard from at least one Pulitzer winner and dozens of journalism professors. I heard from directors of press associations and a few AI directors at universities. I even heard from more than one reader who asked if I would assist in their newspaper startups.

Most writers had very positive things to say about my posts. Others were a little more inquisitive or even downright negative. One post represented a few I received like it:

“I work for a company that owns a lot of community newspapers, so I see the numbers. I guess I'd ask you to define ‘doing well.’”

As the writer mentions, he works for a large newspaper group. That being the case, I’d guess that most newspapers he sees aren’t “doing well,” at least not as well as successful newspapers that are locally owned and run in their communities. I didn’t see that comment as particularly negative, as much as the writer was just trying to understand why I’d written what I did. Let’s face it, a lot of journalists who haven’t been in the business for a long time don’t know anything other than corporate newspapers. It’s not totally their fault that they aren’t used to seeing healthy newspapers.

One writer, Eli Pace, wrote from a newspaper in Hawaii. His name was familiar, and I quickly realized this was the “young” editor I worked with 15-20 years ago at The New Era newspaper in Kentucky. Eli had already gained quite a reputation as editor of what many believed to be one of the best community newspapers in the country. Twenty years is a long time, and Eli has worked with papers all over the map since then, including Colorado (where he could ski much of the year) and Hawaii.

Eli wrote to tell me about his newspaper, The Maui News, which has just transitioned to a nonprofit newspaper. Eli is excited about the possibilities this brings. He mentioned possible new features including a Hawaiian language feature, local history, and more guest columns on the opinion page. I remember the quality of Eli’s paper back in his Kentucky days, and wasn’t surprised when he wrote this in his message:

“It’s the nitty-gritty, day-to-day community journalism that carries a newspaper and that’s what we have to do well. It feels good to be working toward these goals.

I included a line about The Maui News in one of my posts and received this comment from a LinkedIn member in Washington, DC:

“Why is it a celebration of moving to non-profit? Yet one more org chasing ever less non-profit j funding and an overt admission their model doesn’t work. I wish them success, but can we drop the pretence that moving to non-profit is anything other than desperation.”

Not to be disagreeable, but I did respond by letting the writer know that I’ve seen many very successful nonprofit newspapers, and included a link to one of my former clients in New York, The Highland Current in Cool Springs, New York.

Maybe I’m just a glass-half-full kind of person. But I’ve seen too many papers doing too well to sit around and listen to folks declare the newspaper industry dead. Even if it means posting something on LinkedIn, which I never expect anyone to read, I’ll share what I’ve seen and make sure community newspapers continue to have a positive voice. I hope you’ll do the same.

That’s 800 words. My work, at least for now, is done.

• Kevin Slimp has served as an advisor and trainer to newspapers throughout the world since 1995. His online classes can be found at: newspaperacademy.com