How One Town’s Government Brought the Local Paper Back to Life

By: Corey Hutchins | CJR

Around this time last year, a practically defunct newspaper in a suburb of Madison, WI, embarked on an experiment: With a one-year direct financial boost from city hall—about $30,000 to cover monthly postage, plus the shuttering of a city newsletter that competed for ad dollars—the paper would return to print. Then, it would see if it could stand on its own in 2015 without a government subsidy.