06/11/2015

Seven questions with an ONA Member: Keith Rathbun

by Josh Park, Program Support Specialist

Originally born in Cleveland, Keith Rathbun considers Sugarcreek to be his hometown, where he has been publisher of the city’s newspaper, The Budget, for 15 years. His first job in the newspaper field was as a sports writer for The West Life, located in Westlake, OH. He graduated in 1974 from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism.

Rathbun has a wife, Maxine, and two “grown, married children”: Erik, and his wife, Jessica, and Nicole Reel, and her husband, Dan. He also has four grandchildren: Ella, Ethan, Lukas and Sofia.

Rathbun serves as vice president of the ONA Executive Committee, board member of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government and treasurer of the Ohio Newspapers Foundation.

What sparked your interest in this career?
I grew up with three daily newspapers in our home: the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Press and the Cleveland News. I delivered the Press and a local weekly during junior high. I always had my nose in one newspaper or another. Then my high school journalism advisor showed me that it was even more fun making a newspaper than it was reading one. My career was determined in 10^th grade.

What’s the most difficult part of your job?
Dealing with the United States Postal Service, and realizing timely delivery of The Budget. We mail all but five percent of our 19,000 weekly circulation. All we expect is for them to deliver within their own stated window. I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the USPS and delivery problems. As you can imagine, we spend a lot of money with the post office, and yet we are treated like we buy a book of stamps a week.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
For my entire career, it has been the same answer: a reader stopping me in the street to say, “I read … in your newspaper, and I did not know that.” It’s such a gratifying feeling to know you are providing subscribers with news that they need, not just read.

What are the two coolest new things your newspaper is doing?
Remember that our primary audience is Amish and Mennonite, so we are conservative by nature. But “new” is relative to the market.

We have a kids’ editorial feature, “Ponderings and Musings,” that’s really growing legs in the paper with families. Children contribute artwork and writings (poetry and stories); we are backed up with material for weeks. Sometimes it’s the old things that come back around to be new again.

We also are venturing into social media with our local community edition, utilizing Facebook and Twitter a great deal more to interact with the public. Our “English” readers are excited to see us, and the Amish are curious. However, the Amish businesses realize the value of mentions and exposure on digital media.

What’s the biggest problem and biggest opportunity in our industry that people should be talking more about?
BIGGEST PROBLEM: The industry is shooting itself in the foot playing with its publication schedules, cutting publishing frequency to three or four days. I believe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy to complain that readers are less reliant on printed newspapers, but then cut back on publishing frequency. The magazine industry realized that eliminating its print product and relying only on digital didn’t work; many are returning to print versions. Newspapers cannot turn their back on their primary product.

OPPORTUNITY: No other industry has the capability of dominating newstelling as newspapers. We have the digital avenues for telling breaking- and continuing-news stories, and the printed component to take our time and tell in length and great articulated detail the “rest of the story.” The newspaper industry has the words and pictures (stills and video) to tell the story – any story – better than any television, radio or digital-only organization.

If you could get an exclusive interview with one newsmaker past or present for your newspaper, who would it be and why?
Benjamin Franklin. I would ask him to explain his vision for the relationship between newspapers and the USPS. I am sure his answer to “Where did it go awry?” would be something like, “I don’t know. I look at the current relationship and I am SMH [shaking my head].”

What are the most important benefits you get from ONA?
Without a doubt, the single most important benefit is networking with so many knowledgeable newspaper professionals. I have shared problems and solutions, war stories and happy endings with my peers. Comfort is sometimes in numbers, and it’s nice to sit down at a roundtable or dial up a friendly voice and discuss the industry’s issues. Also, the free legal hotline and the lobbying ONA does on behalf of its members are invaluable to all-size newspapers.

For upcoming issues of the Ohio Newspaper Association’s Bulletin, we want readers to get to know their fellow members, who are leaders in their organization and the newspaper industry. If you would like to participate in our Q&A, please send an email to Josh Park at jpark@ohionews.org.