Join us for this conversation with representatives from Country Journal (Ellenor Downer, Editor), Monterey News (Stephen Moore, Editor), and The Sandisfield Times (Ronald Bernard, Founder & Board Member). They will share their own experiences and local favorite Don Morrison will facilitate discussion on the benefits of local journalism and the support it needs. We welcome representatives from other local publications such as Becket Beat, Otis Observer, and Washington Town Tracks to participate in this conversation.
Refreshments will be served! Masks optional.
Ronald Bernard
Founder and Board Member, The Sandisfield Times
Ron Bernard, a retired pharmaceuticals industry executive and his wife, Jean Atwater-Williams reside in Sandisfield, MA in the ca. 1785 Josiah Hulet house. A local history and old house enthusiast, Ron is the principal author of the book, Sandisfield Then and Now 1762-2012, a comprehensive history of the town written in conjunction with its 250th anniversary. He is a founder and board member of The Sandisfield Times, a monthly community newspaper now in its 13th year and writes a regular column about local history, “Historia.” Ron was also a founding director and first president of the board of the Non-Profit Center of the Berkshires (2016).
Ron holds a B.S. degree from the University of Connecticut (‘67) and an MBA from St. John’s University (NY) (‘73). He served in the US Air Force (1967-71) with the rank of Captain.
Ellenor Downer
Editor, Country Journal
I took over as interim editor in early January of this year with the intention of editing the paper until a replacement was found. I enjoyed reading about all events happening in the Hilltowns and seeing all the photos of the beautiful vistas. I did not hesitate to say yes when I received an offer to be editor of Country Journal along with the Barre Gazette. Country Journal has some capable correspondents and a large number of groups and organizations, who submit news items.
I already was editor of the Barre Gazette, which is another Turley owned paper and covers eight small towns in Central Massachusetts. I have been editor of the Barre Gazette for 23 years.
I lived in Massachusetts all my life and grew up in Auburn. I graduated from Auburn High School and Clark University in Worcester, majoring in English. I also graduated from Stockbridge School of Agriculture and took a job on a dairy farm in Oakham. I met my husband when he came to fix an electric problem in the cow barn. He had a home in Oakham and raised four daughters. I am a widow and have six grandchildren.
In my spare time, I like to read, sing in my church choir, swim and watch birds.
Stephen Moore
Editor, Monterey News
I was asked to take on the job as editor for the Monterey News in 2014, and it has become my third career. I was a self-employed woodworker for twenty-plus years doing commercial woodwork in central Vermont; in my early 40s I transitioned away from my small business and employees to earning a masters degree in education and went on to teach elementary school for eleven years in Vermont. I left teaching and moved to the Great Barrington area for personal reasons, and adopted Monterey as my home in 2008.
My years as a woodworker provided me with some tangential skills for teaching young children; and teaching young children provided me with other tangential experiences that were useful as an editor. But basically I was hired with no direct editorial experience. My whole life has been learning on the job and this has been no different.
My wife, Wendy Jensen, is a professional basketmaker, and we both love living in a small town, and value the opportunities to be active in town life.
Country Journal History
The inaugural issue of the Country Journal came out on May 1, 1979.
Based in Blandford, the tabloid style paper served the communities surrounding Blandford: Becket, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Otis, Russell, Tolland and Worthington.
Forty-four years later, it serves 16 towns: Becket, Blandford, Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Otis, Plainfield, Russell, Sandisfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthington.
Turley Publications, based in Palmer, purchased the paper. The mission statement for all Turley owned papers is to provide local news. As publisher, Patrick Turley, said it is important to focus on “local news - local, local local.”
Monterey News History
The Monterey News (MNews) is probably the oldest monthly small-town publication in the region. Begun in 1970 as a mimeographed broadsheet from the village church, within a few years it became an independent publication with a long list over the years of editors and board members to guide and supervise. As with anything that has been active for so long, there have been significant changes along the way. Mimeograph gave way to offset printing on newsprint; typewriter written content pasted up moved to digital in 2005; newsprint was replaced with white bond paper not long after that.
The MNews has been produced every month, missing only a few months in the early years, and is currently a twenty-eight or thirty-two page publication. Total circulation of free mailed and pick-up print copies is around eight hundred. Another four hundred are sent via email as pdf documents. While we do not have a public website launched yet, work to build one is ongoing and hopefully will be live before the end of the year. And that might bring other changes.
The MNews is as much a small-town journal as it is a “news” paper. In addition to local governance issues and events around town, we have an excellent group of essayists with an amazing breadth of topics: natural history, historical information, cultural reflections, art, poetry, photography, youth and school interests. The MNews, as a nonprofit, includes advertising at very low rates for local businesses, but has always been primarily supported through volunteer donations. There have never been paid subscriptions.