Big Bend Sentinel visit inspiring for 2023

Picture a small newspaper office with nearly a dozen people waiting patiently in line. They are young, energetic and engaged in the world around them. On the other side of the counter are members of a team dedicated to serving the community with the most relevant community news and information.

And in the case of The Big Bend Sentinel, they will also make you a great cup of coffee.

By Leonard Woolsey, TPA President

In November, my wife and I stopped in Marfa, Texas, to visit our friend Max Kabat, owner and publisher of the Big Bend Sentinel. My wife and I love the Far West Texas landscape, always treating ourselves to a stopover in Marfa as we dive into Big Bend National Park for a week of unplugging.

The town of Marfa is a gem. Go there. And for those who have yet to visit the Big Bend Sentinel office, expect a refreshing reminder of how creativity and the courage to stare down the “we’ve always done it this way” mantra can yield remarkable results.

Pulling up to the newspaper office, you first notice that you may need to look for a place to park. Customers’ cars compete with trucks serving nearby construction sites. As a result, the street, although off the beaten path, is hopping.

The Big Bend Sentinel is a creative blend of a retail coffee shop populated with locally sourced products and a newspaper. The lobby is open and spacious and radiates a positive vibe you can’t help but find moving to your soul. Your heartbeat slows, and your blood pressure sags. Exposed timber, bricks and plaster reinforce the authenticity of the experience.

And in Marfa, people hang out at their local newspaper.

In the front of the building sits a coffee shop – a long line to the door of customers waiting for their daily infusion of caffeine and possibly a pastry. A copy of Big Bend Sentinel welcomes each one to the counter.

My wife and I browse the tables of locally sourced themed items, finding more options than ways to order a coffee in the modern world. Finally we bite, choosing several.

But behind a tiny door located off the lobby is the newspaper office – the place where the magic happens.

As much as you want to talk about the coffee shop in the front, the Big Bend Sentinel is an excellent example of a community newspaper. From the locally sourced content to ads drawn by small children, the newspaper reflects a genuine and diverse community.

Remarkably, the newspaper continues to print on an oversized sheet in black and white; reading The Big Bend Sentinel evokes a remarkable balance of nostalgia blended with polished professionalism. If the Big Bend Sentinel were a person, I’d be drawn to them, wanting to sit down over a cup of coffee and listen to them unpack their stories.

This process is what I find so fascinating about what Max is doing in Marfa. He is making a highly emotional connection with his community, daring to tear down any walls between The Big Bend Sentinel and his readers and advertisers. As a result, the paper comes across as a beautiful snapshot of the communities it serves in Far West Texas. And much like a Rubik’s cube, finding the right formula takes focus and experimentation.

What is the takeaway from my experience, and what can we learn from Max?

First, he is daring to boil his newspaper down to the bones, rebuilding with muscles of authenticity, finding the emotional touchpoints in his community. Secondly, with his creation of a coffee shop, he is diversifying his revenue stream, allowing his newspaper to focus on reporting and reflecting on the community. And finally, he is not done – and neither should we ever be. Tweaking and reinvention will always be a part of his successful formula.

We can all learn from this formula. For example, are we truly connecting with our communities or simply continuing to publish what “we’ve always done” in the way “we’ve always done” it? If yes, how is that working out for us? How do we expect this behavior to play out?

And how goes our work in diversifying our revenue streams? While digital is essential, is there something else that embeds relevance and value into a current and future audience? Where are you on building an emotionally connected product with legs to expand and years to mature?

Finally, when was the last time we sat and asked ourselves the hard questions without fear of the answers? What can I do with my existing tools and assets to grow the business? What is it that I can’t do well enough to expect it to be successful, and thus it’s a drag on the business?

So dream away, tweak away, and retire products and services that will not help you get where you need to be.

I came away from The Big Bend Sentinel truly inspired; the visit immediately reset my perspective of what we can accomplish under the banner of community journalism. I can’t wait for 2023.

And if you’ve any questions, stopping by The Big Bend Sentinel for a cup of coffee is a good place to start.