There’s a new publication on the block in Brookings. The Brookings Beacon was born out of the sudden closure of several South Dakota newspapers.
While those papers, including the Brookings Register eventually reopened, it gave enough pause for Josh Linehan, who was managing editor at the Register and now the Beacon. He decided to investigate a newspaper wholly owned in the community.
“We have financing secured, and we are off and running," Linehan said. "We’re going to start a print edition first week of December, we have a website that’s up and running in a beta version, and we’re going to hopefully deliver a quality, local journalism product here in Brookings.”
Linehan has been reporting since working for his high school paper. He said in a world dominated by social media doomscrolling, physical papers and local journalism are more valuable than ever.
“There’s a difference between gatekeeping and curation," Linehan said. "Form follows function in that a newspaper is a delightful mishmash of what people have wanted throughout the years, and this is a really exciting opportunity to get feedback in real time of what people want and what we can give them.”
For Linehan, that means embracing the watchdog mentality of the fourth estate.
“You need a good journalistic eye on local government, local politics, how the tax money is getting spent, how the schools are being run," Linehan said. That is extremely important, and it needs a discerning eye, it truly does. Even on a local level politics are not – they’re complicated anymore. I want my paper to be a place where community stories get told.”
Linehan, a Brookings native, has over 30 years of experience in the field and has worked in reporting and editing roles for papers like the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the Fort Myers News Press, and the Portland Press Herald.
