Graham takes reins at The Walton Tribune

Patrick Graham

The Walton Tribune in Monroe, Ga., has a new owner, and for many locally it is a familiar face.

Patrick Graham, who previously served as publisher of The Tribune from 2003 to 2009, has purchased the newspaper and its related products from Southern Newspapers, Inc. of Houston, Texas. Southern, which continues to operate 14 newspapers in northeast Alabama and Texas, had owned The Tribune since 1983.

"Walton County is a tremendous place to live, work and play," Graham said. "It was home for me and my family when I became a publisher for the first time in my newspaper career, and I can't tell you how excited I am that it will once again be our home as I become a newspaper owner for the first time in my career."

Dolph Tillotson, president of Southern Newspapers, said the company has a 31-year association with Monroe and Walton County that has been enjoyable and profitable, and the company is very appreciative of that long-standing relationship.

Southern was founded by newspaper entrepreneur Carmage Walls, and Walls' heirs and associates operate the company today. Lissa Walls Vahldiek, Walls' daughter, is the company's chief executive officer.

"We're also proud that Patrick Graham will be our successor," Tillotson said. "He's a fine man and a good newspaper operator. He and his family have a history in Monroe and many friends, and I know he'll do well and operate the newspaper to the highest standards.

"Southern believes this change will benefit everyone and will be a good thing for the people of Walton County."

The Tribune was consistently recognized by the Georgia Press Association for the quality local coverage it provided the community during Graham's previous stint as publisher. Graham said the paper has continued to provide an award-winning effort for its readers and advertisers in his absence, and now he is ready to take an already great product to the next level.

"Simply put, I want to put out the very best newspaper of its size in the state of Georgia. The kind of newspaper that readers will absolutely have to pick up because they feel like they might be missing something if they don't," Graham said. "We have a community that deserves that kind of quality coverage, and we have the kind of staff that can deliver that kind of quality coverage."

Graham said community newspapers like The Tribune are succeeding while others in the industry are struggling because community newspapers continue to focus on local coverage, and he plans to increase that local emphasis even more moving forward.

"Community newspapers have been able to stay relevant in the lives of readers by providing information about the community that readers can't get anywhere else," Graham said. "That is why the platform readers are consuming the information in – whether it is print, online or mobile – isn't as important as the type of information they are consuming, and time and again readers are telling us they want local, local, local.

"As a locally-owned newspaper, that is exactly what we intend to give them."

Graham is a 23-year veteran of the newspaper industry. He has spent the last 11 years operating newspapers of various sizes in a number of publisher roles with Southern.