Daily Clintonian newspaper to cease publication after Wednesday edition

Sue Loughlin , The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
Updated ·2 min read

The Daily Clintonian newspaper will cease publication after its Wednesday edition, according to Eric Jones, editor.

The paper is a weekly that also appears online.

Jones said he received an email Monday night informing him of the decision. The paper is owned by Don Hurd, president of Heartland Media Group.

The following message will appear in the paper on Wednesday:

“Heartland Media Group regrets to inform readers this will be the last issue printed of the Clintonian. The staff and ownership thank the community, readers and the paper’s advertisers for their support over the years. We wish the residents and businesses of Vermillion County nothing but the best.”

The Daily Clintonian, based in the Vermillion County town on Clinton north of Terre Haute, briefly closed in April 2020, but then began publishing again in May 2020 after its purchase by Hurd.

Prior to that, the Daily Clintonian had been in the Carey family since 1936, when George and Elizabeth Carey purchased the newspaper. Their children, George “Sonny” Carey and Diane Waugh had been operating the Clintonian since the mid 1980s.

It was not immediately clear whether the current owner will attempt to sell the publication.

Jones said he didn’t have a lot of details about the decision and doesn’t deal a lot on the business side.

But the reasons are similar to why the paper closed four years ago.

“The advertising money that comes in versus the expenses it takes to produce, print and distribute a paper doesn’t come out to the positive,” he said. “It’s difficult to be financially successful and eventually decisions like this have to be made.”

He said he completely understands the thought processes behind those decisions, “but it is still extremely unfortunate for a little community where the local paper is where everyone finds out what is going on that there’s not going to be the local paper anymore,” Jones said.

As editor, he has covered government, school board meetings, police items and features.

He has worked for the Daily Clintonian for 21 years. Pam Sanders worked part-time for the paper and covered events in Parke County.

While Jones said he is disappointed the Clintonian is closing, he emphasized he was not being critical of ownership.

“Where we are now, we could have been four years ago,” he said. Don Hurd bought the paper, restarted it “and kept it around another four years.”