2 Oklahoma Newspapers To Close, Another Faces Uncertain Future

Two newspapers, the Cleveland American and the Hominy News-Progress, will publish their final editions Wednesday, and the nearby Pawnee Chief will be sold or closed, according to Publisher Rusty Ferguson.

“When you can't pay your bills and debt starts climbing, you've got to do something,” he said.

Ferguson was busy Monday writing the final edition of the American. 

“My issue this week will primarily be over the past 40 years. Those are the years I've published the paper, with a few glimpses back before that.”

Ferguson, his father and his grandfather are all members of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. Ferguson’s office in Cleveland houses the newspaper archives and equipment used to produce the paper through history.

It’s now printed in Kiefer, on Tuesday evenings for distribution every Wednesday.

Ferguson’s only employee in Cleveland is office manager Sheila McBroom, who will retire after 16 years helping produce the paper.

“When social media got popular, that's when things started going downhill for the papers,” she said.

Ferguson said subscriptions and advertising have slowly dropped for all three papers, prompting him to become a teacher to help support the operation. He now teaches history at Cleveland Middle School.

Despite the sacrifices and the demise of the family business, Ferguson praised his loyal readers and advertisers for their support.

“Lots of them have expressed their disappointment because they're going to miss it, and I appreciate that. We're going to miss it. It's a whole sudden halt to how you've lived your life and now all of a sudden you won't be.”

Ferguson said the Pawnee Chief has a likely buyer who intends to continue publishing, but the deal has not been reached.

Ferguson said he didn’t know yet what would become of the other buildings or extensive archives of the papers.