Thoughts on the impending closure of the Webb City Sentinel

One of the joys of working at a newspaper is hearing the roar of the press and grabbing one of the first copies of your latest issue.

I was lucky enough to have that experience when I was sports editor at the Lamar Democrat in 1978 and for the first few years after I returned to the Democrat as managing editor in 1982.

I had it again for a few years after I signed on as a general assignment reporter at the Carthage Press in 1990.

In addition to the joy I had each time a I saw a new edition of the Press, I also had the opportunity to see the latest editions of smaller weekly newspapers and high school paper that we printed.

One that I particularly enjoyed was the Webb City Sentinel.

As the area reporter during the first three years at the Press, I covered the Webb City and Carterville area and was interested in seeing what was going on, what stories I had missed and seeing a couple of things that made the Sentinel stand out from other southwest Missouri weeklies.

One was the brilliant cartooning of the late and dearly missed Nic Frising. No other small weekly in Missouri that I knew of had a cartoonist, much less one as gifted as Nic.

The other was the photography of owner/editor Bob Foos. Foos has been one of the top photographers in Missouri for four decades.

The Webb City Sentinel not only provided a weekly update on city and school events and extensive community coverage, but it had a look unlike any other area newspaper- an easy-to-read design, Foos photos, Frising cartoons- each edition offered a visual feast.

After Mr. Frising passed, Foos continued publishing the same brand of community journalism he had delivered to Webb City since 1979.

That brand will cease to exist early next year.

The news, which had long been anticipated, was featured in a page-one article in today's Joplin Globe.

The newspaper had been on the market for years, but this is not a time for anyone to enter the newspaper field.

When the final issue of the Sentinel rolls off the Globe's press in 2021, it will essentially leave the Globe as the only source of print journalism in Jasper County (yes, I am aware that another company has weekly newspapers in Carl Junction, Sarcoxie and Carthage, but I stand by my statement).

Following the publication of the final edition of the Carthage Press with the news of the closing of the Sentinel is a clear sign that community journalism, at least the community journalism of the print variety, is rapidly becoming a fading memory.

 I, for one, will mourn its passing.