It’s time to clear out the notebook, starting with a business product at a paper where I was once business editor, the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway.
The Log Cabin introduced the North Metro Business Journal this month, partnering with the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce to highlight real estate news, groundbreakings, construction and company innovations in the area around Conway — north to Clinton, southwest to Perry County, west to Russellville and southeast to northern Pulaski County.
GateHouse Media, which bought the Conway paper last year, will aid in distribution, will insert copies of the journal into home-delivery copies of the Cabin, the Sun Times of Heber Springs, the Van Buren County Democrat in Clinton and the The Times of North Little Rock. The publication will also be available free at businesses in Conway and Russellville, according to GateHouse Group Publisher Kelly Sublett, who oversees the Conway, Clinton and Heber Springs papers.
“The NMBJ is a reboot from a publication we did just for Conway/Faulkner County readers a few years ago,” Sublett told Arkansas Business. “The idea is to stay Faulkner County-centered, introducing the Central Arkansas North Metro region to the county’s growth and business opportunities.” The next edition will appear in mid-April.
GateHouse is the country’s largest owner of daily papers with 142 nationwide, as well as 326 weeklies. It coordinates page design work for most of them at its 270-employee Center for News & Design in Austin, Texas, where it recently announced the acquisition of the Austin American-Statesman for $47.5 million.
“Not all papers in Arkansas use the Center for News & Design,” Sublett said. “Many are built locally. It is a choice publishers make for individual properties, and there are many factors in making that choice.” She uses the design center for the daily Log Cabin but relies on an in-house designer for projects like the North Metro Business Journal.
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