Monday, October 12, 2009

A castoff reporter with a ‘Tom Sawyer business plan’ buys a newspaper

Eight months ago, M.E. Sprengelmeyer, 42, worked as the sole Washington correspondent for The Rocky Mountain News, the Denver newspaper that went out of business in February. In August, he embarked on a new life in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, an isolated little town. He became the owner, publisher, editor, primary writer and sometime ad salesman, photographer and deliverer of the weekly Guadalupe County Communicator, circulation about 2,000.

“I covered the war in Iraq and the presidential campaign, and I knew I was never going to top that, even if I found another reporting job,” he said, sitting on a battered chair in his single-story storefront space. “I just wanted a completely new direction...

“It’s the Tom Sawyer business plan: I’m trying to convince all my friends how much fun it would be to help me,” said Mr. Sprengelmeyer.

Click on the title to read the full New York Times story.

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