After more than 120 years of reporting, the Sylvania Herald announced on its website at 8:23 a.m. July 13 that it has been forced to close.

The weekly paper, which covered about 90 percent of Sylvania, according to its website, mailed the paper to homes in Sylvania every Thursday. The final edition will be mailed July 14.

The Herald cited the reason for the close is printing and distributing cost. Ad revenues did not make up the loss of distributing to about 12,500 homes, the website said. The decision to close was made with “much thought and emotion.”

Nine staff members, including one photographer and five writers, covered local sports, politics and community events in Sylvania. They had four columnists who updated on Wednesdays.

“It is with a heavy heart that we say good-bye,” the website said. “We have enjoyed being the chronicle of events and activities in Sylvania and Sylvania Township for more than a century and have taken our responsibility seriously. We’ll miss you all. For one final time we say thank you and good-bye.”

Sylvania Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Pat Nowak was a freelance writer for the Herald.

The Chamber of Commerce used to receive the Herald at its office, and Nowak said she is sad they will not get the paper any more.

“You know, there are so many, every time a paper closes, you hear a lot about how printed media is going away. So any time a newspaper closes, it’s like we see the possibility of that happening,” she said. “The local papers help report the community in depth. When a paper closes, the people in that community suffer.”

Tags: Media, Sylvania, Sylvania Herald

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Community, Media.
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