Searchby Ellen Creane
After 11 years as a staff writer, photographer, and then editor of The People-Sentinel in Barnwell, South Carolina, Jonathan Vickery bought the paper from Gannett in July, 2021, and has already added 200 subscribers. “We’re growing every week,” he reports.
That same July, Vickery added the Kid Scoop weekly youth feature because “I wanted to reach all members of our families.”
“I’ve heard from parents a lot,” he said. “The parents tell me their kids really enjoy Kid Scoop. It’s fun, but I also saw the educational value in Kid Scoop for the elementary grades right away,” he added.
In September, just two months later, Vickery added Kid Scoop Junior to reach the pre-school-age children in families living in Barnwell County, a circulation area of 21,000. With the circulation growing so quickly, “we’ve been able to add more pages and bigger photos,” he said.
After taking over ownership of The People-Sentinel, I was looking for ways to make our paper even better. “Kid Scoop has been a positive addition to our community newspaper. Kid Scoop has done this by adding more content and value to our paper. The page has been a hit with readers. It has also allowed us to increase revenue through page sponsors,” he said.
While he grows his staff, Vickery handles everything from editorial to ad sales and even brought in an initial sponsor, Subway, for the Kid Scoop page.
Subway of Barnwell is one of the local advertisers that has committed to a monthly ad.
A web page just for The People-Sentinel, which used to be a weekly unit of the Augusta Chronicle, is on schedule to launch February, 2022. For these early months, it’s been a print edition of 3,100, “and growing,” he emphasizes.
A native of Barnwell, Vickery graduated from Barnwell High School in 2006, and earned his undergraduate degree at Anderson University. He returned to Barnwell and began his journalism career at The People-Sentinel in 2010. He has earned many awards for both writing and photography from the South Carolina Press Association during his eleven years with his hometown paper. The People-Sentinel began publishing in 1852.
“I have been committed to telling the stories that matter to our community in a factual, unbiased manner. You can count on our team to produce quality, award-winning journalism that matters. I look forward to expanding coverage while also playing a watchdog role on local government,” said Vickery in Gannett’s Augusta Chronicle as its subsidiary passed to the young editor, now publisher.
Two Barnwell County cousins enjoy completing the Kid Scoop page every week.
Vickery recently acquired the single Kid Scoop page focused on news literacy as part of his commitment to educating young readers to analyze what they read. The Kid Scoop page also periodically includes a column called Reporter’s Corner so children can learn the skills of writing factually.
“We need to get them very early,” the publisher-owner emphasized.
