BROOKINGS, S.D. - Brookings native and veteran journalist Josh Linehan outlined his plans to launch a new weekly community newspaper, The Brookings Beacon, when he spoke to the Brookings Rotary Club at a recent meeting.
Linehan, who is married to Nicole, grew up in Brookings and first learned the newspaper business co-editing the Brookings High School student paper with her in 1996–97. He holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in English from South Dakota State University.
Over nearly 30 years in journalism, Linehan has worked as a reporter, photographer, designer and editor for newspapers including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the Fort Myers News-Press and the Portland Press Herald, where he served as an editor for six years before returning home to run the Brookings Register.
“When the Register shut down, it happened during my wedding week,” Linehan told Rotarians. “I soon learned the new ownership and management would be out of town, and I just didn’t have any interest in that. You don’t get into journalism for the money - you do it because you love it and you care. If I’m going to do that, I’m going to do it for myself and for this community.”
Linehan described the broader challenges facing newspapers in South Dakota and across the country, from corporate consolidation to shrinking staffs and rising costs. “When I was here the first time, Sioux Falls had an Associated Press reporter, and papers like Brookings and Pierre had their own reporters in the Capitol,” he said. “There were five, six, seven people covering the Legislature on a daily basis when it was in session. Now South Dakota is one of the only state capitals that doesn’t have an AP reporter in the Capitol. Some of those daily papers we all grew up with have become what I call ‘ghost papers.’”
He also pointed to the loss of classified advertising to online platforms and the soaring cost of newsprint.
“A funny thing happened during COVID,” Linehan said. “Newsprint was already becoming a niche product, and most places that could make newsprint switched over to making toilet paper. There’s only one factory left in the United States that makes newsprint, in Kimberly, Wisconsin, and their customer list is small. Everyone else buys newsprint from Canada. The cost of paper is what it is, and we’re going to have to fight through that.”
Despite those headwinds, Linehan said he is convinced there is still a strong appetite for quality local journalism. “There’s some very good academic research, especially from the 2008 financial crisis, about what makes a paper able to withstand the ups and downs of the economy,” he said. “Local ownership, local staff, good editorial independence - and nonprofit ownership if possible. My answer for any paper, including the Register, is that you need a publisher and an editor locally. Long-term, I don’t think you can deliver the product people expect without that.”
The Brookings Beacon will follow the model emerging in communities such as Sioux Falls, Aberdeen and Watertown, where new, locally owned weeklies have launched in recent years. “We are set for our first publication date on Dec. 3, and we’ll publish weekly for four or five weeks,” Linehan said. “We’ll start by dropping free copies around town in as many high-traffic places as possible and posting stories on our website, and then move as quickly as we can to home delivery by U.S. mail once we have a subscriber base.”
The paper will be printed in Madison, where the Register has long been printed, and will use a tabloid format “a little taller than an ordinary tab,” he noted.
Linehan said The Brookings Beacon will be “local first and always.”
“The first thing, first and always, is local news - local government, local tax dollars, all of those important decisions that get made in town,” he said. “That needs coverage. That always needs coverage. I also want to tell the stories about people in the community that don’t get told. That’s what I was working hard to do at the Register and what I want to build the Beacon around.”
The business model will combine subscriptions and advertising, with an emphasis on reader support.
“We’ll have online, print, and a combined online-and-print option,” Linehan said. “We’re going to try to keep the average subscription right around $100 a year, which is in line with Watertown and Aberdeen. We really do want to be subscription-based. We’ve had wonderful reception from advertisers, but if you could start something from scratch right now, the model of subscription-based and nonprofit is where things are headed.”
Linehan also praised nonprofit statewide news organizations such as South Dakota News Watch and South Dakota Searchlight and said he plans to partner with them. “They do great work covering the Legislature and big, statewide stories,” he said. “Because they’re funded by grants, their work is Creative Commons licensed. My plan is to take a lot of the good work they do and localize some of it when we can. For example, if tourism is down statewide, what does that mean for Brookings? We still need that broader coverage; it’s an important part of being an informed citizen and voter.”
When asked how community members can best support the new paper, Linehan offered a simple first step. “The best thing people can do right now is go to BrookingsBeacon.com and, anywhere it says ‘subscribe,’ just add an email address,” he said. “Once we’re ready to accept subscriptions, we’ll send out an email asking people to subscribe. In the meantime, you’ll get everything I put up on the Substack until we’re in print and up and rolling.”
Linehan closed by returning to the importance of having a truly local newspaper.
“It’s very important to me that Brookings has a paper of its own that isn’t going to go away,” he said. “I don’t ever want to see us in a situation again where we have to shut the doors and tell subscribers and advertisers, ‘We don’t know what’s next.’ That left an awful taste in my mouth, and I’d like to make that right, if at all possible.”