Antigo Daily Journal Editor Fred Berner at Thursday's program. |
Local newspaper history detailed Nov. 13, 2009 The Langlade County Historical Society drew an interested crowd Thursday evening for the organization’s annual meeting and a review of the Antigo Daily Journal’s history.
President Joe Hermolin stressed the importance of the newspaper to the Society and the community at large at the start of the program, which drew close to 100 people to the Knights of Columbus Hall.
“The Historical Society has benefited from the Antigo Daily Journal, who has been a friend for decades,” he said. “Many other organizations have also benefited from the newspaper’s support and coverage. We owe them a big debt.”
Fred Berner, editor of the newspaper for decades, explained the history of the Journal, which is one of a few stand-alone family dailies in Wisconsin today.
“The Berner Brothers Publishing Co. got started when Henry and Fred Berner bought the weekly Antigo Journal in 1901,” Berner said.
He explained that the brothers were aggressive and much of the competition either retired or sold in what was a crowded media market before and after the turn of the century.
He detailed the shift of the paper from a weekly publication to daily on Sept. 18, 1905, and the changes in staffing and family involvement by the Berners for well over a century.
The Journal is published today by Marie Berner, the widow of Artemas Berner, who was in the second wave of brothers to operate the newspaper and the commercial printing operation.
Berner took questions following his presentation, which included many early photographs. He stressed that in days of changing media ownerships and dire predictions and finances at many large daily newspapers, small, community papers remain an integral part of their communities. Professionally-run newspapers staffed by journalists often remain the only accurate source of news in an Internet age of blogs and bias, he said.
During the business portion of the meeting, Society members re-elected Hermolin and Nancy Bugni to the board of directors. Steve Bradley will fill the chair of Joe Sveda, who declined to seek re-election. The action came on an unanimous ballot.
Hermolin also outlined events of the past year, including the new museum roof. Goals include a cooperative effort with the newly-formed Antigo Visual Arts Association to display and sell works of local artists in the museum.
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