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We are profiling newsrooms big and small from across GateHouse in our Newsroom Profile feature. If you'd like to have your newsroom profiled here, just fill out the Newsroom Profile Questionnaire.
| Newspaper name and location: |
Mineral Daily News Tribune; Keyser, W. Va.
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| Editor: |
Liz Beavers
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| Other newsroom staff members: |
Richard Kerns - Op Ed Editor and Staff Writer
Michael Minnich - Sports Editor Megan Greco - Staff Writer/Page Designer |
| Website: | |
| Circulation: |
3,500 |
| Give us a short history of your newspaper: |
The Mineral Daily News Tribune was established in 1912; we will be celebrating our 100th birthday next year. It was a family-owned newspaper and publishing company until 1999, when Liberty Publishing purchased the newspaper from the Tetrick Family. In 2010, the News Tribune moved its entire operation from the location that had been its home since the beginning to new headquarters at 21 Shamrock Dr. when the old building was purchased by the WV Division of Highways to make room for a new bridge into town.
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| Tell us something unique about your community: |
Keyser is the home place of Jack Rollins, who wrote the lyrics to "Frosty the Snowman" and "Peter Cottontail;" Jonah Edward Kelley, who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in battle in World War II; Henry Louis Gates, Jr., director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University was born in Keyser, and raised in the nearby community of Piedmont; and John Kruk, ESPN analyst and former Philadelphia Phillies player who went to the World Series in 1993.
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| Do you have any quirky or fun newsroom traditions? Any mascots? What's your newsroom snack of choice? |
We're up for a good pizza and Mt. Dew any time of the day or night.
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| What has your newsroom accomplished recently that you are most proud of? What was your biggest story in the past year? |
In 2010, we brought home four first place and several other editorial and advertising awards in the West Virginia Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, earning us the distinction of third place General Excellence in our circulation category. This coming August, we will be picking up seven first place awards in addition to several advertising honors.
Our biggest accomplishment in the past two years was the publication of a 72-page glossy magazine devoted to Keyser's Congressional Medal of Honor winner and his legacy.
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| What new initiatives does your newspaper have planned? (Is there a new feature, special section or big story you want to tackle?) |
This summer, will be begin work on the publication of a large glossy magazine featuring the the historical sites in the county, with the cooperation of the local Historic Landmarks Commission.
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| How about anything else you’d like to share? |
We currently have the smallest newsroom staff in recent history of the News Tribune, but are publishing larger papers, more special sections, etc., and winning more awards than ever.
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