SANDUSKY — The Press, a weekly newspaper covering the eastern suburban communities of Toledo for more than 50 years, has closed.
The news comes just a week after the owners of The Blade newspaper in Toledo announced the newspaper would likely cease operations at the end of 2026.
H. Kenneth Douthit III, the owner and publisher of the Press, said he is folding the newspaper because of years of declining advertising and rising printing costs.
Douthit owns a printing company in Sandusky.
Advertising revenue used to pay the bills, he said, but not so anymore. He said he planned to start charging for subscriptions this month, but realized a subscription based model for The Press would not work.
“I wanted to give the conversion to subscription some time, but it’s a tough market out there,” he told The Blade.
“The paper was based on display advertising. There’s just fewer and fewer of them,” he said. “It just can’t go on. There’s just so many holes in the dike, and I don’t have enough fingers.”
The final edition will be distributed Monday, Douthit said.
Douthit, CEO of Douthit Communications, also publishes the Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier, Currents, the Good News, the Vermilion Photo Journal, and WestLife in northeast and north central Ohio. Douthit said those publications, which are subscription-based, will continue to operate.
The Blade spoke with Scott Carpenter, an employee at the Press (1983-95) and at one time its editor.
“The closing of a newspaper, especially one that has served the community for more than 50 years, is like a death in the family,” the newspaper quoted Carpenter. “Things just won’t be the same without it.”
Hello? Bob is that you?
In 2019, the Youngstown Vindicator closed, but the masthead and the subscription data were purchased by Ogden Newspapers, owner of the Sandusky Register, the Findlay Courier, the Norwalk Reflector and 10 other Ohio newspapers.
Bob Nutting, president and CEO of Ogden Newspapers, did not immediately respond to questions about the company’s reaction to The Blade’s announcement and Douthit’s decision to close the Press. Jeremy Speer, an Ohio regional publisher whop oversees operations at the Sandusky Register, and John McCabe, an executive editor with Ogden, also did not immediately respond to questions.
Nutting also is chairman of the board of the family’s Major League Baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. He doesn’t normally return my phone calls.
