RUST ANNOUNCES NEW MALDEN PUBLICATION

Gary Rust, president of Rust Communications, has announced the addition of "The Malden Journal" to its family of area newspaper publications.

The Malden Journal will begin publication March 1 with a free distribution circulation of 11,000. Included in the circulation zones will be the counties of Dunklin, Stoddard, New Madrid, Butler and Clay County, Arkansas.

In making the announcement Rust, a native of Southeast Missouri, said Barbara Hill will be the publisher of the newspaper and John Frank will be the general manager.

The newspaper office will be located at 121 South Madison in downtown Malden. The building is now the site of the law offices of John Welch.

"We feel it is important to us to be in the downtown area even though other office space was available," said Hill. "With the erosion of the downtown area in many cities, we wanted to make a definite statement about out commitment to the community."

Rust and the newspapers he has formed have been effective at identifying a need in Southeast Missouri cities and moving to fill a void by other publications. Planning for The Malden Journal has been underway for several months.

"Since last fall we have been doing some research into the Malden trade area," Rust said. "We determined there was a need for a strong community based newspaper.

"With our Kennett, Dexter and Poplar Bluff newspapers, we were into Malden on a weekly basis anyway. We talked to people in the community and have known for some time the need was there," Rust said.

Rust's philosophy on community newspapers has been a simple three-point approach. It's an approach that he has used to build award-winning newspapers and one he plans to continue in Malden. Rust believes that if his newspapers put out a good product, serve the community, and take care of the employees, the newspaper will be successful.

Echoing those thoughts, Hill said, "Our initial response since word got out last week has been extremely positive. We're excited about the opportunity and look forward to a long term relationship with the City of Malden and surrounding communities."

Two newspapers already exist in Malden, the "Delta News" and the "Press-Merit". Both of these newspapers are owned by the Canadian-based international conglomerate, Hollinger International, through its U.S. subsidiary, American Publishing Company, headquartered in Illinois. American Publishing is a publicly-held company which owns 265 publications in the United States, with extensive holdings in Canada, and other newspapers in England and Israel.

The Malden Journal will have its own news, advertising and office staff. Production, including printing of the newspaper will be done in Rust's Kennett plant, home of the "Daily Dunklin Democrat."