Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, May 18, 2024View Newspaper Group takes on same mission as J-Ad Graphics
Doug VanderLaan
Contributing Writer
As long time colleagues,
sometimes even working for
competing newspapers, Wes
Smith and Rick Burrough
have always understood their
mutual passion for the news-
paper business. Ink runs
through their veins and the
smell of newsprint always
tells them their home.
One thing they’ve also had
in common is the pain they
feel when a newspaper dies.
That’s why their profes-
sional mission as the owners
of the View Newspaper
Group is to save, restore, revi-
talize, and even start commu-
nity newspapers throughout
the state.
Today, their Lapeer-
headquartered group owns 14
free circulation and paid-sub-
scription newspapers cover-
ing 10 Michigan counties.
With last week’s purchase of
the publication portfolio of
J-Ad Graphics, Inc., seven
more newspapers have been
added to the stable.
Burrough, founder and
company president, and
Smith, publisher, have felt the
pain of a stricken newspaper
industry up close.
Dying newspapers began
piercing America’s heart in
the late 1990s and the carnage
has accelerated into the pres-
ent day. According to a
Washington Post report in
Nov., 2021, over 2,200 localnewspapers closed in America
from 2005 to 2021.
Smith and Burrough have
been there. Forty years ago,
Smith was working at the
Lapeer County Press as a pro-
duction manager when
Burrough walked in wanting
to learn the business.
Burrough moved on to other
printing opportunities in the
Thumb area of Michigan
while Smith stayed and
worked his way up to higher
levels of management at the
paper.
Burrough purchased his
first printing business and the
two became competitors for a
time when Burrough started
his own newspaper, the
Lapeer Area View, in 2003.
That paper and the invitation
by Burrough for Smith to join
him in 2011 has been a grand
and ambitious response to the
country’s newspaper malaise.
Using JAMS Media, LLC
as a parent company, the two
began acquiring and starting
newspapers, first in their
Thumb-area region and then
branching out from there.
With each addition to the
group Burrough and Smith
are proving they have a win-
ning formula to stop the
spread of “news deserts” in
America.
“A successful community
newspaper plays a vital part
in making their cities and
towns successful,” said
Smith. “Part of what we do isto ensure that businesses and
nonprofit organizations in the
community are prospering.”
That comes not only in
publicizing those entities but
also as part of another View
Newspaper Group tenet:
Involvement.
“Many of our team mem-
bers serve on area nonprofit
boards and are community
volunteers,” said Smith. “We
insist that they become
involved with the community,
that they’re involved with
being on boards and with ser-
vice organizations. We push
that responsibility down
because they thrive on their
involvement and become
more successful in their roles.”
Involvement also means a
significant investment by the
View Newspaper Group in
direct contributions. Last
year, the company made
$130,000 in cash donations to
area nonprofits, $25,000 of
which came from Burrough
himself. The View Newspaper
Group is an active sponsor ofsignature events that raise
money for important causes.
In the last decade, the compa-
ny has made $240,000 in con-
tributions to the communities
in which it is based.
Burrough sees J-Ad and
the communities it serves fit-
ting right in to the View
Newspaper Group’s involve-
ment with and support of the
readers, advertisers, and non-
profits it serves.
“The Jacobs family has
been great stewards of the
J-Ad group of newspapers for
nearly 80 years,” noted
Burrough. “When the family
decided it was time for them
to sell their papers, they
sought us out knowing of our
success in the community
newspaper business and our
reputation for treating stake-
holders — advertisers, ven-
dors and employees — with
fairness and respect.”
The addition of J-Ad
Graphics’ publications to the
View Newspaper Group
appears to be a winning prop-osition for all players. J-Ad
Graphics receives the assur-
ance that its 80-year dedica-
tion to the community will
continue; the View Newspaper
Group extends its mission to
revitalize community journal-
ism in a threatened industry;
and local readers, advertisers
and nonprofit organizations
can welcome the protection of
not becoming a news desert.
“Readers and advertisers
deserve to have their home-
town newspapers to be vital
parts of their community,”
summed up Smith. “The
View Newspaper Groupproves that local newspapers
that reflect their readers,
respond to the needs of their
advertisers, and are involved
in their community are still
viable and in demand.
Smith sees J-Ad Graphics
as a mirror image of that busi-
ness model.
“Our communities are
made up of many good peo-
ple doing many good things,”
he added. “Fred and his oper-
ation do so many things right
and one of those things is the
connection to the community.
“It’s an honor to have
earned their trust.”tial buyers, it came down to
only one that understood the
importance of keeping as
many employees as possible,
putting out great products
and having the financial abil-
ity to continue for years to
come.”
Based in Lapeer, the View
Newspaper Group operates
primarily on the east side of
the state with 14 free circula-
tion and paid subscription
community newspapers cov-
ering 10 Michigan counties.
It prints more than 250,
copies on both a weekly and
daily basis.
The purchase of the J-Ad
Graphics portfolio of news-
papers fits the template of
the View Newspaper Group
whose exponential growth
began in 2003 with the
launch of the Lapeer Area
View by company president
and founder Rick Burrough.
“The Jacobs family has
been great stewards of the
J-Ad group of newspapers,”
stated Burrough. “When the
family decided it was time
for them to sell their papers,
they sought us out knowing
of our success in the commu-
nity newspaper business and
our reputation for treating
stakeholders — readers,
advertisers, vendors and
employees — with fairness
and respect.”
The company has solidi-
fied that success and reputa-
tion with consistent start-up
ventures and acquisitions of
family-legacy publications
like those of the Jacobs fam-
ily. In 2019, the View
Newspaper Group purchased
the Greenville Daily Newsand its printing operations
from the venerated Stafford
family. That addition, until
last week’s J-Ad Graphics
purchase, has been the View
Newspaper Group’s closest
move to the west side of the
state.
“We kind of got to be
known around the state by
family publishers because
we respect the legacy of their
community newspapers,”
said Wes Smith, who
re-joined his long-time col-
league Burrough as publisher
of the View Newspaper
Group in 2011. “We contin-
ue to be part of the communi-
ties we serve by reporting on
local community govern-
ment, safety issues, schools
and everything that matters
to readers. A big part of our
community approach is thatwe believe the things that
hold our communities togeth-
er are much stronger than the
things that divide us.”
That was a major factor in
Jacobs’ choice of a corporate
successor as well as the
greater financial security
offered by the View
Newspaper Group’s efficien-
cies in printing, delivery and
technology.
“I’ve known the owners
for several years and have
the greatest respect for their
dedication and knowledge of
the industry,” said Jacobs.
“Having them take over my
family’s business which has
been in place for nearly 80
years made it easier to do.”
The Jacobs family will
still have a local presence.
Fred’s son, Jon, and daugh-
ter, Jennie Yonker, both ofwhom hold active roles with
J-Ad Graphics, have been
offered positions with the
View Newspaper Group.
Daughter Carrie Larabee will
continue to operate J-Ad’s
Printing Plus facility inde-
pendently from its current
location in the restored barn
at J-Ad’s M-43 location.
Printing Plus, as well as
the Lowell Lithograph and
Charlotte Lithograph busi-
nesses, is not part of the sale
transaction which includes
only the newspaper side of
J-Ad’s holdings. Those print-
ing operations will continue
to be directed by the Jacobs
family.
Jacobs will retain owner-
ship of J-Ad’s property on N.
43 Highway, just north of
Hastings, along with proper-
ties in Marshall and Lowell.He expects that the View
Newspaper Group will be
renting the current office facil-
ities to establish a local pres-
ence for its own operations.
“I know that our present
customers and some who
haven’t been as active will
support the new ownership,”
said Jacobs. “They’ll make it
possible for it to grow and
produce the kind of papers I
grew up with over the past
50-plus years.”
Smith looks forward to
that challenge.
“I’ve had the good fortune
of working with profession-
als like Fred throughout my
career,” Smith said. “He’s
been such a great example to
me. He and his group have
become my peers.
“It’s an honor for us to
have earned his trust.”VIEW GROUP, continued from page 1
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Downtown Middleville(269) 795-CORRECTION:
In a story that ran in the May 4 issue of the Sun
and News, we incorrectly stated that Kim Selleck
did not file to run for Thornapple Township trustee
in the upcoming election. This is incorrect. Selleck
has filed to run for a Thornapple Township trustee
position and he has done so as an independent.
He previously has ran as a Republican. We regret
the error.Wes Smith Rick BurroughJ-Ad Graphics and its portfolio of newspapers
have been engrained in the local community for 80
years. This is a photo of the team, including publisher
Fred Jacobs inside the newspaper suit, participating
in a Christmas parade in Hastings. (File photo)