Pictured from left to right, Clinton Poock, regional publisher for Mid-America Publishing Corporation, Leon and Becky Thorne, previous owners of The Eclipse News-Review, and Ryan Harvey, President/CEO of Mid-America Publishing Corporation. (Photo by John Jensen, Mid-America Publishing Corporation)

Mid-America Publishing Corporation is pleased to announce its purchase of The Eclipse News-Review from Leon and Becky Thorne, of Parkersburg, effective Wednesday, December 30, 2015.

The Eclipse News-Review will be added to the Hampton-based corporation’s growing roster of 29 Iowa weekly newspapers and shoppers.

Other nearby papers also owned by Mid-America include those in Grundy Center, Allison, Clarksville, and Eldora.

 “We are excited to assume the ownership of The Eclipse,” said Mid-America Publishing’s President and CEO, Ryan Harvey. “We believe this paper has a solid foundation and also has the potential to be something the community and area can be really proud of. The community’s loyalty to the paper through the years has shown us that they believe in the importance of their local newspaper.”

The transfer of ownership is related to the Thorne’s decision to retire from the newspaper business to pursue other interests.

“We want to thank Leon and Becky for allowing Mid-America to continue the legacy of the Eclipse News-Review,” Harvey said. “We know they’ve been key community figures over the past 45 years with Leon having started at the paper when he was in high school and Becky having worked beside him for many years. We know they are now looking forward to enjoying retirement and we are honored to be able to help them transition.”

Clinton Poock will assume the duties and title of publisher of the newspaper while veteran newspaper editor John Jensen, who has been serving as the editor of the Grundy Register for the past five years, will oversee the day-to-day operations.  As part of the transition Mid-America is seeking to add a part-time office and sales assistant and full-time sales representative to sell advertising throughout Butler County.

“We believe a local newspaper needs to have local content,” Harvey said. “Our mission going forward is to tell the stories of local residents, report on local events, and give strong coverage of local government at the city, county, and school district levels. One of John Jensen’s specialties is writing high school athletics and accordingly we plan to provide the community with first-rate coverage of Falcon sports.”

The publication will join Mid-America’s portfolio of weekly newspapers which aside from the Register and the aforementioned properties also include: The Calmar Courier, Postville Herald, and The Outlook, in Monona; The Eldora Herald-Ledger and Hardin County Index, with an office in Eldora; The Leader, with offices in Garner and Britt; the Wright County Monitor, in Clarion and Dows; the Eagle Grove Eagle; the Buffalo Center Tribune, The Pioneer Enterprise (Rockwell-Thornton), The Sheffield Press; The Hampton Chronicle; The Butler County Tribune-Journal (Allison); the Clarksville Star, the Ida County Courier in Ida Grove; The Ogden Reporter, and The Graphic-Advocate, with offices in Lake City and Rockwell City.

The company also owns and operates newspapers in southeast Iowa, namely, The News-Review, in Sigourney, The Keota Eagle, Keota, and The Sun with offices in New Sharon and Fremont. The company additionally produces two weekly political newspapers, the Conservative Chronicle and the Liberal Opinion Week as well as several TMC shoppers, such as The Hampton Chronicle’s Bonus in Hampton, The Spectrum in Lake City-Rockwell City, The Leader’s Shoppers News Review in Garner, The Reminder in Ida Grove; and the Wright County Reminder in Clarion; plus monthly shoppers such as The Dual County Leader in Eagle Grove and the Keokuk County Chief in Sigourney.

The company also recently launched northern Iowa’s only Latino-oriented newspaper, Viva Iowa! which serves Franklin and Wright Counties. In addition to its newspapers and shoppers Mid-America operates a commercial printing division that offers customized printing and publishing solutions such as banners, posters, postcards, direct mailing, mailing list management, letter head design, newsletter management and dozens of other marketing and promotional products which it plans to make available locally in the Parkersburg area.

Harvey further added that although the paper will retain its existing logo and general format, readers are going to notice some immediate changes such as expanded and varied content, special sections, more local photos and greater use of color. Additional printing services will be added in The Eclipse office in the near future but the full suite of custom printing services Mid-America offers will be available immediately and any interested parties should contact the newspaper office for additional information.

 One of several changes for readers and advertisers to also note is that the newspaper’s billing and circulation will be consolidated to the company’s home office in Hampton effective immediately. The printing of the newspaper will also move to the Hampton facility and a website for the newspaper will be launched within a few weeks. The newspaper will however remain in its current location at 503 Coates St. and will also retain the same mailing address, e-mail addresses and phone number. On the size front, the paper will transition to a wider format, expanding from a 22-inch web to a 28-inch web format. The standardized format which reflects the width of other Mid-America papers will allow the company to seamlessly cross sell advertising into the Eclipse from any of the company’s other newspapers, and include other area social news and photographs of possible interest to local readers.

One final change of note will be that the newspaper will arrive back in Parkersburg mid-afternoon Tuesday rather than first thing Tuesday morning in order to allow for stronger news coverage of Monday evening events. Readers can find more information on this story and additional coverage of the newspaper’s transition in next week’s Eclipse!