Grant County Journal closure feels like 'death in the family'

The Grant County Journal published its final edition June 29. Its front page was a reproduction of the Oct. 18, 1907 front page of the old Ephrata Journal.

A story inside on page 2 told the story: “It’s like a death in the family,” said Managing Editor Randy Bracht. “With the people who read the newspaper, there’s a real sense of loss.”

The closure made news across the state.

Rufus Woods, publisher emeritas at the Wenatchee World, devoted his regular column to the closure.

“I was saddened to hear that longtime publisher Jeff Fletcher had made the wrenching decision to shut down the Grant County Journal at the end of June, ending that paper’s run of 116 years of serving the communities of Ephrata and Soap Lake,” Woods wrote.

“Jeff is the epitome of a devoted community newspaper man. He put service to the community as a top priority while also being a savvy businessman who did his best to adapt to change. If there had been a path to keeping the newspaper open, I have no doubt he’d have found it.”

Fletcher’s great-grandfather on his father’s side homesteaded near Waterville and his other great-grandfather homesteaded near Orondo.

Fletcher graduated from Washington State University and took a job at the Kent News Journal. He was lured back to Ephrata with an offer of a minority stake in the paper in 1977. Four years later, Fletcher became the sole owner and has been immersed in community newspapering ever since.

Woods noted The Journal was able to afford a larger-than-normal news operation for many years thanks to the development of a lucrative commercial printing business.

Traditionally, most of a newspaper’s revenue has come from advertising. The advent of big box stores in larger towns led to the demise of retail businesses that advertised in small towns. For example, there used to be four car dealerships in Ephrata, but today only one is left.

Digital revenue has been a savior for larger newspapers, but weeklies with limited audiences have not been able to capitalize in the same way. As revenue shrank, belt tightening became necessary. The economics were working against the paper.

With many of the staffers in their 60s and 70s, and with hiring new people getting increasingly difficult, Jeff said he could see the handwriting on the wall a year ago. He said it was not a surprise to the staff when the decision was made to cease publishing and shut down.

“I cannot help but think that Ephrata and Soap Lake are losing a large piece of the glue that keeps those communities together,” Woods wrote. “Newspapers connect communities in a way that other media cannot.”

First published in The Washinton Newspaper: of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, June 2023. Reprinted with permission.