Opinion
By George Miller, 6-8-25
Look at the two News-Leader publication mastheads from last week’s editions. What changed and why?
When we moved here to the supposedly “Most Conservative County in Florida,” I thought that news media would no longer be a problem. WRONG! The main “news” publication in town, The News Leader (NL), is also the oldest continuous published one in the state. I think it was originally printed on alligator hide by Timucuans. In more recent years, it has changed hands a few times and been run by left wing organizations (Even the NY Times) and it showed. There was also an online left wing publication, The Observer and that insipid lefty Jacksonville rag. You couldn’t find real truth until you headed west to seek out the tiny Westside News.
So two reactions occurred:
- We undertook starting a pilot project for a new online publication which was truthful and looked at the world through a Christian Conservative lens- Citizens Journal Florida- so yes, some bias, but we tell you that so you can calibrate and we state facts as accurately as we can determine them. The News Leader stance and the lack of Conservative, accurate publications were the proximate causes for doing this, to provide a counterpoint. We have since put out a lot of needed content (about 4000 articles) not readily available locally and also some state and national issues needing highlighting.
- In the same year, folks from the biggest printing plant in Nassau County started the Yulee News, which doesn’t have the left bias of the first two publications I mentioned.
Meanwhile, the News Leader doubled down and hired a new Editor, Tracy Dishman, who moved that paper even farther left. Locals told me that Publisher Foy Maloy (which sounds like a made up name, but isn’t) was “conservative.” but that certainly didn’t show up in that paper’s content. Almost every section- news, opinion, even feature stories, religion and sports, had a left bias. I only read it to see what the opposition was up to. Maloy was a good rainmaker though, ensuring that the NL and local sister publications brought in sufficient green to keep the doors open. Not only did they bring in revenue, but cut costs, including staff, facilities, the size of the paper itself and even shut down their printing plant and farmed out that work to the owners of the Yulee News.
Meanwhile, people were complaining about the left bias and that it was inhibiting NL readership. Multiple people who wrote for them, including a former editor, now have their work published with us in Citizens Journal Florida and Yulee News.
Maloy retired, then corporate owner Community Newspapers of Athens, GA installed a new Publisher, Todd L. Frantz. He unfortunately was sidelined by a heart attack, allowing Dishman to continue run wild in her adopted sandbox. Those knowledgeable in analyzing newspaper content and not fatally compromised by left bias could readily see the corruption of the publication.
So, Frantz is back- thank God for good doctors and a strong constitution, beginning to take control, even publishing his own weekly column, reigning in some excesses, bringing talent in and some weak ones have left. But much remains to be done.
Last week we heard first from much feared, hated/beloved and outspoken Blogger Dave Scott that Dishman was out- likely forced out, but no concrete proof has shown up. She reputedly wrote a bitter, petty letter accusing Frantz of the very things some believe she is most guilty of- unethical conduct, bias and interference. It seems that he tightened control while she was away, changing approaches, content and even issuing corrections she abhorred. On June 4th, her name as editor vanished from the masthead (see above). See Dave’s latest blog on this, which also appears in this publication.
So, is our work done, now that the Yulee News is ramping up and The News Leader appears to have started reforms? Not necessarily. We have had our trials and tribulations with finding adequate funding, volunteers, and dealing with health problems, which are constraining growth and more local news content. But we see a niche still needing to be filled of providing content on controversial topics no one else will touch. We’ll at least keep the embers glowing, if not flaming, to do this and to step in at an increased level if the aforementioned efforts by others fail. To do the latter would require some more funding in the form of ads, donations- and more volunteers for a number of tasks. If interested, please contact [email protected]
George Miller is Publisher and Co-Founder of Citizens Journal Florida, based in Fernandina Beach. He is a “retired” operations management consultant, software and publishing (11 years) executive and manufacturing management professional.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
