TCCJ winds down a busy 2025

As the new year dawns, we look ahead to an exciting calendar in 2026.

As we do, we are grateful for a busy 2025 and count our blessings for the relationships fostered along the way. 

By AUSTIN LEWTER, director, Texas Center for Community Journalism

We welcomed 2025 with happy news from Parker, Tarrant and Wise Counties when we learned that the Tri-County Reporter would not be closing. 

After having announced they would cease publication at the end of the month, a new local owner swooped in and acquired the paper. 

By the end of March, the new owners unmerged the two publications and the Azle News and Springtown Epigraph remain beacons in their communities thanks to local investment. 

When spring came around, we hit the road once again making stops at the NETPA convention in Fairfield, the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association in San Marcos and the joint convention of STPA and TGCPA in New Braunfels. 

I enjoy my time at our regional conventions. Thank you for the continued invites and the opportunity to present workshops in these settings. 

In April, we celebrated a new newspaper start-up when the ETX Bell rolled off the press serving the Bullard and Whitehouse areas of East Texas. 

In May, we celebrated the graduation of TCCJ undergrad assistant director Haeley Carpenter. We were thrilled to see her get hired at Kerrville. 

Summertime was workshop time. 

Early in June, TCCJ welcomed 30 Texas community journalists to our Broadcast News for Community Newspaper Workshop in Fort Worth. We gave working pros the tools and skills they needed to start producing better video content for their newspaper websites. The lineup of presenters included Robert Bohler, Mireya Villareal, Charlie Haldeman, Tom Hale, Andrew Tanielien and Juwan Lee. They were all amazing.

Then we took to the road again. We made stops at the TPA convention in Denton, conducted training sessions with Granite Publications in Taylor, worked with news writers at five weeklies in Spur and gave sessions to our friends at the Panhandle Press Association Convention in Amarillo. 

It was also in July that we mourned the loss of longtime TCCJ contributor Kym Fox. 

Kym was one of the best among us. Her passing has been painful. 

We ended the summer by hosting 60 community newspaper pros for our Finish Strong: Ad Sales Power Workshop in Fort Worth. High-octane sales trainer Kevin James gave folks tools needed to grow the bottom line at their newspapers. It was great. 

Along the way, we were able to foster introductions that led to a change of ownership at the Silsbee Bee. In fact, the Bee was close to shuttering, and we were thrilled to help find them a new owner. 

We’ve made similar introductions since then that have led to succession plans for three other Texas weeklies. None of those details are public yet, but we’ll be excited to share the good news early in 2026. 

Early in the fall, I made a trip to the Missouri Press Association Convention before having to cancel a planned trip to the NNA Convention in Minneapolis due to a family emergency. My fall has been largely centered around us recovering from that emergency. Many of you know those details and I appreciate your prayers. 

We are on the mend and ready to dig in once again in the new year. 

We did squeeze in sessions at the Texas Community College Journalism Association convention in Tyler and made several newspaper office visits along the way. 

The TCCJ remains committed to our mission of providing elite mid-level, professional training to community journalists across Texas. 

Let us know how we can best do that for you. What are some workshop topics you’d benefit from? 

Drop us a line and let us know how we can help. My email is alewter@tarleton.edu. 

And stay tuned for more exciting programing announcements coming in the new year.