A New Chapter for the Dayton Weekly News
A Letter from Publisher RoShawn Winburn
To our readers, advertisers, contributors, community partners and friends:
This week marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Dayton Weekly News. I'm pleased to share that I have acquired the Dayton Weekly News and will serve as its Publisher.
For more than three decades, DWN has occupied an important place in our community. Don G. Black founded the newspaper in 1993 because he saw something missing. Dayton’s African American community needed a publication that would tell our stories more fully and would cover not only our challenges, but also our businesses, churches, schools, families, leaders, accomplishments and everyday lives. That mission matters just as much today.
I did not acquire the Dayton Weekly News simply because I wanted to own a newspaper. I acquired it because I believe institutions like this matter, and the Dayton Weekly News is a community asset.
A community is stronger when it has the ability to tell its own stories, recognize its own accomplishments, discuss its own challenges and connect people with the information and opportunities they need to improve their ability to act. That is the role I believe the Dayton Weekly News can continue to play.
Honoring What Came Before
With new ownership comes a responsibility to recognize the people who made it possible for us to be here.
Don G. Black built this newspaper and devoted much of his life to ensuring that Dayton’s African American community had a voice of its own. Following his passing in 2020, his son, Donerik Black, carried that responsibility forward.
I am grateful for the opportunity Donerik has given me to become the next steward of what he and his father created for our community.
There will be changes ahead, but those changes will not require us to abandon the foundation upon which DWN was built. We intend to build upon it.
Meeting the Community Where It Is Today
The way people consume information has changed dramatically since the first Dayton Weekly rolled off the press in 1993. Today, a newspaper cannot exist only on paper.
Our readers are on their phones. They’re opening email newsletters. They’re watching videos. They’re following conversations on social media. They’re searching online for information about businesses, events, schools, government, health, jobs and opportunities. DWN must be there too.
Print had been, and will again be, an important part of who we are. However, it will become one part of a larger Dayton Weekly News platform. First, we will strengthen our website and newsletter, expand our digital and social presence, introduce new voices and contributors, and create more ways for the community to participate in the stories we tell. Most importantly, we will remain focused on news you can use —information that helps people understand what’s happening around them and what they can do with that information to become more empowered.
Building Community, Not Just an Audience
I want DWN to do more than accumulate readers, followers or page views. I want it to help build community. That means connecting people with organizations doing good work. It means introducing readers to businesses they should know. It means giving experts, community leaders and residents a place to share what they know. It means celebrating accomplishments that might otherwise go unnoticed. It also means asking difficult questions when our community needs answers.
Our job is not to tell the community what to think. Our job is to make sure people have the information, perspectives and connections necessary to participate in shaping the places where they live. That’s how I think about the next chapter of the Dayton Weekly News.
We Need You
None of this works without the community. Over the coming months, you’ll see us asking more questions and listening more intentionally.
What should we be covering?
Whose voices are missing?
What information would make DWN more useful to you?
What organizations, businesses and people should more of Dayton know about?
What would make you read, share, subscribe to or financially support local journalism?
We want to hear from readers. We want to hear from businesses. We want to hear from community organizations. We want to find writers, photographers, storytellers, subject-matter experts and residents who have something valuable to contribute.
This newspaper belongs in conversation with the community it serves.
One Brief Pause
As we complete the ownership and operational transition, we are combining two weeks of coverage into this edition and will pause printing for one publication cycle.
This brief pause gives our team time to complete important transition work behind the scenes.
Then we get back to work. There is much more to come!
For more than 32 years, the Dayton Weekly News has helped tell the story of our community. My responsibility as Publisher is to protect what made this institution important while building what it needs to become next.
I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I’m excited about what we can build together. As the legacy continues, the importance of our work grows.
Stay engaged. Stay Inform. Build Community.
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