The Reader (newspaper)

The Reader was established in 1994 by a group that included John Heaston and Dan Beckmann. Beckmann bought out Heaston in 1999, then sold nearly all of his ownership interest in February 2000 to 77-year-old Alan Baer, a member of the family that had founded the J. L. Brandeis and Sons department store chain.[1] Baer replaced Beckmann as publisher a few months later.[2]

Meanwhile, Heaston established another paper, the Omaha Weekly, in March 2000. After Baer died in November 2002, Heaston bought the Reader and merged it with the Weekly.[3] John Heaston was interviewed in 2021 about the Reader's history as part of the paper's recent membership drive on a biweekly podcast "Reader Radio."[4]

The Reader's corporate owner, Pioneer Publishing, also publishes several other papers and websites, including the Spanish language El Perico.[5]

In January 2015, The Reader changed its publication frequency from weekly to monthly and increased daily content on The Reader's website.[6]

The Reader was published out of a train car that was attached to a brewery on 78th and Cass (1995) before it enjoyed stints at offices downtown (1996-1999) and in historic Dundee (2000-2007) until landing in its current location in the immigrant hub that is South Omaha near the intersection of 27th and L Streets.

The paper published its last issue in September 2023.[7]

In 2022, The Reader was named as one of "10 news publishers who do it right" by Editor & Publisher Magazine.[8] The 2022 masthead includes Publisher John Heaston, Lead News reporter Chris Bowling,

• Official website