Ben Grieco is the new sports editor at the Palladium-Times in Oswego. It’s a job he got after just recently graduating earlier this year from from SUNY Oswego, where he was the editor of the school’s newspaper, the Oswegonian.

“It’s super cool to be able to do it now. Before it was the Oswegonian, I was on top of classes, where now, this is it,” Grieco said.

Being a sports reporter, is all he’s ever wanted to be.

What You Need To Know

  • Students like Ben Grieco spent their time in College, hoping to achieve a career in journalism

  • Many small papers, and college papers, can no longer afford to print their papers, so in a partnership with the Watertown Daily Times, the Times prints the papers and delivers them to each community

  • Being able to learn at his college paper, the Oswegonian, allowed Ben Grieco to get a job at the Oswego Palladium-Times

“It’s cool to be a part of something like this now, full-time, getting paid to do it and living out the dream that I’ve had since I was what, 14 years old and a freshman in high school,” Grieco added.

Stories like Ben’s are just one of numerous reasons why so many in the newspaper industry are fighting back at the trend to go digital. They are working to continue to show the value of a full-detailed report from a local reporter, on a printed page you can hold in your hand.

It’s about keeping local reporting alive, and it's all thanks to the shared printing of the Watertown Times up north.

“This is going to be successful for years to come,” Johnson Newspaper Corp. President Alec Johnson said. “We’re committed to a vision and it’s a vision of supporting others. It’s a vision of supporting our community with the news that we provide and coming up with ideas on how to do it.”

It really comes down to economics. Printing a newspaper is not cheap. In fact, it’s a big part of the reason so many papers are going all-in on digital or unfortunately, shutting down all together. It’s also the reason the Johnson Newspaper Corporation, which owns and operates the biggest paper in the North Country, the Watertown Daily Times, is one of those papers fighting back.

“You aren’t going to see the ability for a new newspaper of any kind to start from scratch with this kind of equipment,” Johnson said standing in front of the paper’s printing press. “It’s something that we have that we can use for anybody that needs printing.”

From the press was born a partnership of more than 60 papers across the entire northeast, which are now all printed here in Watertown. It’s an economic win-win for everyone and a move that has very much kept these papers alive, papers like the Oswegonian.

“It’s great because a lot of our commercial printing is from our local colleges and universities,” Johnson Newspaper Corp. Vice President Gary Valik added. “All those places have kids, when you go onto those campuses, those kids are excited about print.”

Providing that future for kids like Ben Grieco.

“I think the Times is helping keep dreams alive. I think that’s a perfect way to put it," said Grieco.

Read Part 1 of this two-part series on the Watertown Daily Times printing press, here.