The last remaining community newspaper in Johnson County is closing down.
The Gardner News, which was purchased by the newspaper chain CherryRoad Media in 2022, will cease operations effective Monday, July 1.
“Our company is dedicated to the preservation of community journalism,” CherryRoad CEO Jeremy Gulban wrote in a letter on the paper’s website. “Since the purchase of our 1st paper in late-2020 to today, we have prided ourselves on our ability to fight the difficult battle that newspapers face in today’s digital society. Unfortunately, that battle cannot always be won.”
It’s the latest in a string of similar newspaper closures in recent years.
The Johnson County Sun, which had covered the whole of the county for decades, published its last issue in 2011. The Shawnee Dispatch, which was published by the same company as the Lawrence Journal World, ended its 16-year run in 2018.
Paper had served Gardner since the early 1980s
The Gardner News was founded in 1982 and served the growing communities of Gardner and Edgerton. Rhonda Humble owned the paper and served as its publisher for years before her retirement in 2022. She passed away in the fall of 2022.
In his letter, Gulban noted that “paid circulation for the newspaper has dipped to less than 200.”
“That loss of readers, a challenge newspapers across the country face, has resulted in a loss of advertising partners as we come up short in reaching the community they need to market to,” he wrote.
CherryRoad Media publishes newspapers in 18 states. Outside of The Gardner News, it publishes 13 papers in Kansas, including the Ottawa Herald and the Miami County Republic.
