WELCH, W.Va. — After the coverage of major floods, the economic rise and fall of the area, and a global pandemic, the Welch News is saying goodbye after nearly a century of publishing. They served the area as McDowell County’s only local news source, and now the newspaper plans to suspend all of its operations.
Formally known as ‘The Welch Daily News,’ the paper did away with the title after printing slowed to just three times a week by 1995.
Owner of Welch News who served the paper for over 20 years, Melissa Nester, said that the growing economic depression and the dwindling readership in the area was the primary reasons the newspaper was forced to close its doors.
“It’s the financial impact of being in a small, southern West Virginia coalfield community, where we really don’t have the strength in our businesses or the amount of residents who could support a newspaper and what it takes to be operational,” said Nester.
The Editor of Welch News, Derek Tyson wrote in a press release about the announcement of the paper’s closure, that they were something of an enigma in the local news industry, not having the resources and advertisement revenue that other media outlets are endowed with, and because of that, the staff sacrificed a lot.
Nester said that the newspaper was able to withstand and evolve with the times for many years.
“It has certainly changed over the years, it’s definitely not what it was when Welch was a big bustling city, but it’s just part of the community, it’s one of the legacy businesses here,” she said.
However, throughout the hardships that the community of Welch and the surrounding McDowell County may have had to endure throughout the years, the newspaper had the opportunity to cover much success that came to the area, as well.
They were given the honor of hosting the cast and crew of ‘The Glass Castle,’ a feature film based on the award-winning novel by Jennette Walls and her story of growing up in Welch for much of her childhood.
The paper also had a chance for an exclusive interview with the world-renowned chef, author and tv host, Anthony Bourdain during the filming of an episode of his series, ‘Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,’ along with former Chipotle CEO Monty Moran’s praise of the area in his documentary series, ‘Connected,’
The Welch News was also showcased by the West Virginia Community Development Hub and National Geographic.
Nester said that the newspaper has made a true impact to the area.
“It has been a staple in our community, it has been a part of life in this community as the Welch Daily News,” she said.
According to research, more than 2,000 local print newspapers across the country closed their doors between 2005 to 2021.
Nester said that they foresaw the Welch News’s closure coming for quite sometime and that the decline in newspapers everywhere is something that she fears.
“I’m terrifed with the direction we’re taking really with all of our media in that the smaller people who are serving the smaller communities are really getting themselves ripped apart due to the larger political nature of the business,” said Nester.
While the local paper was a major help in keeping the McDowell County area afloat, and it particularly honed in readers of older demographics, Nester said that the loss of it is very concerning.
“We’re really sad, because we feel like it reflects a lot on the stability of the businesses here, as well as the instability, and we really feel like it’s going to be a loss for our elderly population or our population of people who do not have a way to access online services and news,” said Nester.
The Welch News staff plans to look through the nearly 100 years worth of collected archives and hopes to be able to keep them.