Carrboro Free Press temporarily stops production

A local newspaper is taking a self-described hiatus to develop a new business plan to address the struggling economy and a homegrown venture that grew too big too quickly.

Although the Carrboro Free Press continued printing through October, Director of Advertising Relations Erin Redfern and Managing Editor Rebekah Cowell decided to pause normal operations and evaluate the newspaper’s future.

Ashley Atkins, founder and editor of the Carrboro Free Press, said she didn’t know when the paper would resume regular activity.

Atkins said she moved to Carrboro in 1982 with a love for media and hopes of creating her own newspaper.

“I wanted to create a newspaper that tells the little stories that make up the big stories,” she said.

Atkins said she initially wrote the articles, took the pictures and distributed the copies on her own.

“The first response I got was standing ovations from supporters,” Atkins said. “I even saw tears from them.”

The newspaper began with eight-page magazine style editions. One thousand issues were printed per week and distributed around Carrboro.

Distribution recently grew to 2,500 20-page issues before the newspaper’s management decided pause printing.

“The readers wanted more, and all of a sudden, these readers felt like it belonged to them,” said Atkins.

“Paying writers, distributors and publishers gets expensive for a newspaper like this, and we just couldn’t do it.”

Atkins said she stepped away from the newspaper in July.

Redfern and Cowell said in a Facebook press release the newspaper is not permanently shutting its doors, but they plan to develop a business plan to grapple with economic woes.

Managers of other local newspapers said they will miss the newspaper during its hiatus.

Mark Schultz, editor of the Chapel Hill News, said he thought the Carrboro Free Press was a fun read.

“They had interviews with dogs and told readers where to find the best ice cream,” Schultz said. “They didn’t have the same mission as our paper, but it’s a loss of good talent.”

Robert Dickson, publisher of the weekly Carrboro Citizen newspaper, said he regularly read the Carrboro Free Press and held the grassroots nature of the paper in high regard.

“The CFP was doing something admirable,” Dickson said. “They got a lot of hyper-local voices, like their ‘man on the street’ pieces.

“That truly represented what Carrboro was about.”

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.