With Knox Ties, Galesburg Community News Provides Welcome Source for Area News

As local news organizations fade, former and current Knox community members are stepping up to provide fresh local information.

The Galesburg Community News recently began publishing, running, and covering Galesburg and Knox County news.

“The idea was to put together a group of people from Knox and get a local newspaper going. We had a lot of support to get it going,” one of the founders, and Knox Trustee Dave Schulz '74, said. “Really, it came from the notion that Galesburg had become a news desert. No one is covering local news in print, which is a huge problem. When people do not have access to local news, they tend not to be engaged in their local community, which is bad for the community at large.”

Schulz has plenty of experience in media, serving as the Floyd Abrams Clinical Lecturer, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School and Senior Counsel at Ballard Spahr, LLP. He defends the newsgathering activity and content of such news organizations as The New York Times, Associated Press, CBS, Hearst, Conde Nast, BuzzFeed, Gizmodo, and other media outlets. His Yale clinic provides pro bono legal services to defend the newsgathering rights of journalists and advocacy organizations. Schulz is ranked one of the top First Amendment Litigators in the country by Chambers USA.

That access to local news is the goal of Galesburg Community News, as the organization hopes to fill a void and give information that is not as prevalent as it once was.

“When I was on the school board, WGIL, WAIK, the Zephyr, and The Register-Mail were there, but over time, the coverage started to dwindle a bit,” Galesburg Community News Board Member Mike Panther ’73 said. “People learned about their community through that; the information was accessible. People knew when their council meetings were and what happened at them, with no agendas, just ‘here’s what happened.’ People weren’t getting that news for a while.”

Schulz, along with David Amor and Marilyn Webb, both emeritus journalism faculty members at Knox College, assembled a group of journalists, Knox alumni, and Galesburg experts to launch the project.

Founders also include former The Knox Student adviser and Quad-City Times Executive Editor Tom Martin, Knox Visiting Journalist in Residence Michael Penn, and alumni Chris Etheridge ’05 and Debbie Moreno ’89.

“Dave Schulz started having conversations with Marilyn Webb and David Amor. Once their conversations started, Tom Martin joined, and they pulled me in,” Etheridge said. “Then we decided we needed someone who could get this done, and that’s where Debbie came in. We started the conversation with Debbie, and she did all the grunt work. We came up with an idea of what this could look like, and it took off from there. Micheal Penn also did a lot of the work.”

Starting a non-profit newspaper is not easy, but in an era of news deserts and corporatization of journalism, a news source with a hyper-local focus has become a trend in communities of all sizes. 

“This seems like the new model that has evolved from a lot of changes in journalism over the last 20, 25 years. It seems sustainable now; there are lots of grants given and philanthropic organizations that support local news," Moreno said. “It still feels kind of new, but everyone is figuring it out.”

Moreno and her husband, Alex ’93, also put up funds to get the business going, feeling like it was not just a passion project, but a duty.

Moreno’s husband is a strong supporter of Galesburg Community News. “One of the things [Alex] learned at Knox was a sense of community. After we graduated, we established a business and became more involved in the community. This is a way to repay the community for their kindness we’ve experienced for 30-plus years.” 

With a promising start in the community, the Galesburg Community News hopes to grow and encourage the next generation of Knox journalists to become involved in their current backyard.

“The Knox journalism program has a historical connection. I wrote for the Knox News team as a student journalist for The Register-Mail and was editor of The Knox Student,” Etheridge said. “Jane Carlson (of Tri-States Public Radio) has pulled in students to focus on community topics. I think the journalism program at Knox sets students up for success. The Knox Student is a great training ground for journalists.”

“At Homecoming, I talked with Knox journalists and explained what we were doing, and if they were open and willing to work with an organization like ours,” Moreno said. “I know they are super busy with The Knox Student, but if they have room and time outside, we’d love to work with Knox and give students that opportunity.”