Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — The Story, a local newspaper providing community news throughout Greater Atlanta for the last five years, has ended print publication, sold most of its newspaper boxes, and is going to an online only news service, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

“We know more people are getting news from the Internet,” particularly young people, Dominique Huff, 25, News Editor of The Story, said in an interview with APN.

The Story’s new website, www.thestoryatlanta.com bills itself as a 24 hour news service and is still being developed. The print edition had come out weekly and had on average a circulation of 60,000, at times including various neighborhood editions, Huff said.

“The decision was made by the Owner. It was something she’s thought about for a long time,” Huff said.

“Unfortunately, a lot of elderly people complained about this move. Old people are not as web savvy. Some said, I don’t have a computer, I feel y’all have ex’d me out of your circulation,” Huff recalled.

The Owner of The Story, Deborah Eason, originally founded Atlanta’s weekly freebie, Creative Loafing magazine (CL), in 1972 in her living room, according to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

CL began as a four-page calendar of events primarily and grew into what it is today, Huff said.

In 2000, Deborah Eason sold Creative Loafing, Inc., to an investment group led by her children–Ben, Jenny, and Taylor–and 25% shareholder, Cox Communications, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other outlets.

By that time, Creative Loafing, Inc., owned several other newsweeklies in the US; and Creative Loafing in Atlanta had become the second most widely circulated paper in Georgia, according to the AAN.

In an interesting twist, Cox Communications went on to launch a freebie, Access Atlanta, in 2003, which CL decried as a cheap imitation of CL. Cox had two members on the CL Board of Directors since the Cox investment in CL in 2000. At a Board Meeting in 2003, the CL Board censured Cox’s President and financial officer for essentially learning about the newsweekly industry while at CL, only to launch a competing paper.

Ben, Jenny, and Taylor Eason reacquired the CL shares from Cox in 2004.

Meanwhile, CL’s original founder, Ms. Deborah Eason, went on to soon publish The Story to fill a unique niche of local community coverage which was missing in Atlanta.

“When they started The Story it was to provide a community newspaper for the City of Atlanta because other media agencies do not provide community news,” Huff said.

The Story would run front page articles on neighborhood meetings, such as the Neighborhood Planning Unites (NPU’s), zoning issues, and other “newsworthy tidbits.” Such coverage will now continue online in a new format.

“Our competitors would have three paragraphs and we would have a full article,” Huff said.

One benefit is, articles don’t have to be cut to fit within a certain page length when they’re online, Huff said. So some articles may now be able to be even fuller.

The Story would cover City Council meetings closely while other outlets would only cover the big debates, Huff said.

The Story has gone through several incarnations over the years. It started in 2002 as “The Story from the Westwide” in Northwest Atlanta areas including Berkeley Park, Virginia Highlands, and Perry/Bolton.

In 2002 the name was changed to The Story Intown West, after a copyright challenge brought from the owners of the movie, Westside Story, Huff said.

Then, a second paper was launched, The Story Intown East, covering Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, and Grant Park areas in Atlanta.

The Story then acquired the Community Review newspaper in Central Dekalb County, which became a third Story newspaper at that time, The Story Central Dekalb.

The Story had three local weeklies during the 2003-2004 era, Huff said.

Then, East and West merged to become The Intown Story, while The Story Central Dekalb continued printing.

In 2006, they began printing a Buckhead Story. At the same time, The Story Central Dekalb was subsumed as part of The Intown Story.

In December 2006, The Story Central Dekalb and The Intown Story merged to become The Atlanta Story.

The Atlanta Story’s last print publication date was April 5, 2007.

“There is a need for local news. Corporate people don’t think that,” Huff said.

Another thing that distinguishes The Story from other local independent publications such as Creative Loafing and the newly-formed Sunday Paper is, The Story’s “family friendly,” Huff said.

“They way we cover stuff, it would have to be something a father or mother could read to their children. There are certain people we couldn’t sell ads to. No plastic surgery or clubs. It would have to be like a restaurant [who could advertise],” Huff said of The Story.

Huff believes independent print media agencies are not the only ones facing cost challenges to print on a regular basis.

“The industry is in turmoil right now. Editors [at corporate papers] have gotten lazy. Nobody wants to dig deeper or cause controversy,” Huff said.

The Story sees both benefits and challenges to going online.

“There will be savings because we don’t have to worry about printing anymore,” Huff says. Plus, “No more waiting til Thursday to find out what happened.”

At the same time, “It’s difficult to market ourselves, to let people know we’re still here,” Huff said.

And there are certain demographics, including the elderly and the poor, who tend not to have computer access.

The Story considered creating a subscription-only version just for their elderly readers who won’t go online, but a series of complicated questions, including cost effectiveness, led to a decision not to pursue the idea.

Huff was recruited to The Story from Georgia State University’s student newspaper, The Signal, last year, he said, after The Story’s editor for the four previous years had left the paper.

The Story online will soon have a big launch when more features are added to the website.

About the author:

Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor for Atlanta Progressive News. He may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

Syndication policy:

This article may be reprinted in full at no cost where Atlanta Progressive News is credited.