Back to the future

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The last time the Kentucky New Era made a big move, employees left their old offices at Seventh and Bethel streets and headed for new digs at the edge of town with a big wood-paneled newsroom and a typewriter at every reporter's desk. That was in the spring of 1971.

In several months, the newspaper will return downtown and set up offices on South Main at Eighth Street in the former J.C. Penney building. Staffers will bring different tools – slim laptops, digital cameras and smartphones – because nearly everything in the newspaper business has changed since the New Era last called downtown home nearly 50 years ago.

It turns out those changes mean that a modern newsroom can be a good fit for the heart of town again.

New Era Publisher Brandon Cox likes the idea of getting closer to the action.

"From an editorial perspective, we support what's going on in downtown Hopkinsville, and we think we should put our money where our mouth is," he said.

The paper will be directly across the street from city hall, he said, and that is a meaningful nod to journalism's traditional role as the watchdog of local government.

The move, expected by November, is part of the New Era's ongoing transition under new ownership.

Read more from the Kentucky New Era

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