Neighborhood Newspaper Group

Neighborhood Newspaper Group is the community newspaper publisher based on the Southwest Side of Chicago. The group currently publishes the Journal News, which covers Archer Heights, Brighton Park and McKinley Park, and City Newshound which covers Clearing and Garfield Ridge. Both papers are released weekly every Wednesday. The Journal News was known as Back of the Yards Journal until February 2008, when the publisher moved its headquarters west and shifted focus to the Southwest Side.

Journal News/City Newshound
TypeWeekly newspaper, community journalism
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Susan Malone Qualter
PublisherSusan Malone Qualter
Staff writersKenneth R Qualter
Founded1937
Headquarters6219 W 63rd Street
Chicago, IL
Circulation20,000

History

The Back of the Yards Journal was established in January 1937.[1] Originally designed to serve Back of the Yards, its coverage gradually expanded to ethnic white neighborhoods further west.[2] The paper was headquartered at the strip mall near 47th and Damen.[3]

As the Back of the Yards demographics changed, the paper struggled to remain relevant to the neighborhood population. The focus shifted away from Back of the Yards. Back of the Yards Community Council tried to persuade the Journal to adapt a bilingual approach, but the publisher believed that doing so wouldn't be profitable for the paper.[4]

In 2005, Susan Malone, the Editor-in-Chief of Back of the Yards Journal, left the paper to form City Newshound community newspaper.[5] Based in Garfield Ridge neighborhood, at 7019 W Archer Avenue, the paper set out to cover Garfield Ridge and Clearing. In keeping with Malone's lifelong passion for protecting pets, the paper devoted considerable space to pet-related articles, and maintained the policy of publishing 'lost pet' ads for free.

In August 2007, Malone acquired the Back of the Yards Journal and moved its headquarters to City Newshound's location. By this point, the paper's coverage primarily focused on Brighton Park, Archer Heights, McKinley Park and Bridgeport. In February 2007, Back of the Yards Journal was renamed Journal News to reflect that.

During the summer of 2012, Neighborhood News Group moved its headquarters once again, to a freshly renovated 2-story building in Clearing neighborhood.

In the November 14, 2013 issue, Neighborhood News Group announced a partnership between City Newshound and Southwest Chicago Post, a neighborhood news blog that covers the same neighborhoods.[6] City Newshound would publish Post's crime coverage, while the Post would post PDF copies of the Newshound on its website.

Regular features

Journal News and City Newshound are both largely made up of classifieds and press releases/news bulletins issued by businesses and community organizations from their respective coverage areas. However, unlike Bridgeport News, the publisher still produces some original content. That includes occasional news articles and regular columns. As of August 2012, they include:

  • Meet Your Neighbor - a profile of a noteworthy individual or community organization from the papers' coverage area.
  • Music Corner - a column by Ken Qualter offers music reviews and discussions of music-related topics.
  • Poet's Pen - features poetry created by area writers.

Past columns include:

  • Sporthound - a column by Nick Matlovich discusses sports-related news and topics.
  • Paw Prints - a column on pets-related topics. Was written by the company's advertising manager/community liaison Julia Ferrel. On July 24, 2012, Ferell died after a nine-month-long battle with cancer.,[7] at which point the column was retired.

See also
  • The Gate - bimonthly, bilingual newspaper that essentially replaced Back of the Yards Journal as the neighborhood's community newspaper.

References
  1. "Back of the Yards Community Collection - Chicago Public Library". Chipublib.org. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  2. "Back of the Yards Journal?". Forgottenchicago.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  3. "Back of the Yards Journal?". Forgottenchicago.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  4. "Believe or not, a newspaper is launching". News.medill.northwestern.edu. 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  5. "Susan Malone". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  6. "Cearing and Garfield Ridge's Best Newspaper is About to Get Better" City Newshound, Vol 9, No 18. Page 1
  7. "The Journal's own Julia Ferrel dies" Journal News, Vol 80, No 33. Page 1
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