Anaconda grieves loss of community's treasured twice-weekly newspaper

The community of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County grieved Monday after learning its steadfast twice-weekly newspaper had abruptly closed after more than five decades.

A sign on the Main Street door of The Anaconda Leader announced the shuttering.

“We deeply regret to inform our customers and readers that The Anaconda Leader is no longer in business,” the notice read. “Thank you for the last 55-plus years of supporting local journalism.”

Van Neitz, owner and publisher, could not be reached for comment. A statement from him attributed the closing to the impact of inflation and the rising costs of operations.

Bill Everett, chief executive of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, lamented losing a credible news source.

“It’s a huge loss to the community,” Everett said. “How do we continue, as a small community, to get accurate information out? It’s a big blow to Anaconda.”

Jesse James Mullen is a founder and owner of the Mullen Newspaper Co., which operates The Philipsburg Mail-Silver State Post and manages a host of other newspapers across Montana and elsewhere.

“It is tragic,” Mullen said of the closing of The Anaconda Leader, which he described as an excellent newspaper.

“James is a great editor,” he said.

James is James Rosien, renowned in Anaconda for his commitment to the newspaper and its readers. Seemingly tireless, he covered local government and sports, shot photos, wrote feature stories and editorials and helped design the paper twice a week. The Leader published on Wednesdays and Fridays, and youngsters who were paper carriers spread out around town with bikes and newspaper bags in scenes reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Rosien, whose time with the newspaper totaled about 15 years, said the closing was not a complete surprise.

“It’s no big secret we’ve been struggling, like so many other newspapers,” he said.

“People are in shock and saddened,” he said. “I’ve always tried to do my best for Anaconda because they took me in.”

Rosien said he hopes to remain in Anaconda and stay in journalism.

Van Neitz inherited the newspaper from his father, Dean Neitz, who launched The Anaconda Leader in December 1970. The business has operated a commercial print shop and has printed other regional newspapers through the years.

Dean Neitz died in May 2019.

He founded The Anaconda Leader after owning The Print Shop in Anaconda and The Philipsburg Mail.

John Cribb is managing director of Cribb & Associates, said to be the oldest newspaper and publication brokerage in the United States.

“The closure of The Anaconda Leader is incredibly sad for Anaconda and southwestern Montana,” Cribb said. “The Leader served as a cornerstone for more than 55 years, keeping its readers informed about everything they needed to know as the community experienced major transitions.”

Those transitions included the consolidation of the city of Anaconda and Deer Lodge County in 1977, the traumatic closing of the copper smelter in 1980, subsequent Superfund cleanup, school closings and economic revival based in part on the region’s rich recreational amenities.

Cribb said there is an unsettling nationwide trend of community newspaper closures.

“While the economics of media are certainly evolving, they are not the only driver of these closures,” he said. “A lot of the closures Cribb & Associates track result from a lack of interest from a younger generation to take over operations. Is it hard to be a business owner? Yes, absolutely. But it can also be a tremendously rewarding life decision that I hope more people will consider in the near future.”

The Anaconda Leader served a host of key information roles in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County. News was just part of it. Anaconda, like Butte, is sports crazy. The paper announced community events, including those by organizations of veterans and groups founded during the city’s melting pot days.

It covered schools and elections, provided space for letters and op-eds and much more. It has been a community newspaper, through and through.

Rosien, whose news staff has most recently featured Kasey Edge-Faur, penned the statement shared with readers.

“It has been one of my true privileges in life not only to cover Anaconda for the past 15 years and witness its transformation, but most of all to get to know so many wonderful people here in a place I’ve been fortunate to call home — and I truly hope to be able to do so for many more years to come,” Rosien said Monday.

It was not clear how many other employees were affected. Debbie Johns retired not long ago after decades of service in the front office.

A Library of Congress entry about The Leader’s building at 121 Main St. notes that the circa 1895, two-story brick structure initially featured a saloon on the first level and furnished rooms above.

“It was later used as the pay office and hiring office of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in the 1930s and 1940s,” the entry reported.

It then served as an advertising office for The Anaconda Standard from 1948 until 1970.

Meanwhile, Van Neitz said details of the dissolution are in the works and the public will be notified as new information is available.