Passion for local news drives Oswego County Media Group’s new publisher Mindy Lawrence
By Tom and Jerry Caraccioli
As visitors walk into the Palladium-Times office at 140 W. First St. in Oswego, a sign above the entrance written by 18th century English satirist and author Junius reads:
“Let it be impressed upon your
minds, let it be instilled in your
children, that the liberty of the press
is the PALLADIUM of all civil,
political and religious rights of free men.”
The importance of those words and letters submitted to Henry Sampson Woodfall’s popular English newspaper, the Public Advertiser (1769-72), ring as true today as they did when King George III was trying to establish a “personal government” filled with subservient friends in Great Britain, while also trying to quell the start of a revolution across the Atlantic Ocean in America.
Ironically, today a woman, Mindy Lawrence, 40, is trying to uphold Junius’ message as the new publisher of the Oswego County Media Group that includes The Palladium-Times, The Valley News, The Oswego Shopper, the Oswego County News and OswegoCountyNewsNow.com.
And while Lawrence isn’t trying to stop a revolution, she is in the middle of an insurgence that has threatened and claimed the livelihoods of many local newspapers and newsgathering outlets across the country.
With the proliferation of digital news via the internet, social media and “civilian journalism” by anyone with a free thought, the threat to locally-printed newspapers is, and continues to be, real.
“There will always be a place for print media,” Lawrence said. “But finding a balance will be important as the next generation comes of age. The business is constantly changing and evolving. We must be able to adapt and change to the needs of our readers and advertisers. Whether it is print, digital media or another platform, we need to provide our products and services in the format consumers want.”
With that confident spirit, Lawrence is only the second female to hold the title, publisher, for Oswego’s esteemed — Palladium-Times — which celebrated its 100th anniversary on April 14.
Getting Started
She got her start in the media business as a college student.
“I was managing a store at Wilson’s Leather in Horseheads,” Lawrence recalled. “I was 19 years old and the store ended up closing, nationwide. There was a gal who used to come in to buy jackets and other things and one day she said, ‘You would be awesome working for me in the advertising department of WINK 106 (Backyard Broadcasting). We want you to be part of our team. We can work around your college schedule.’ It was a whim.”
The Horseheads native was a young mother and the advertising job at the local radio station allowed her to be close to her new family by working a 9-5 job and no weekends.
“At that particular time, I was at Corning Community College,” Lawrence explained. “I thought I would become a nurse and that’s what I would do for the rest of my life. But I got into media and I was really good at it. I lived maybe three miles from my job at the radio station. It was ideal.”
The better she got at her job, the more people took notice. It was around 2010 when a fortuitous round of golf with the advertising director of WETM-TV (NBC) led Lawrence to her next career stop in the industry.
“I went but TV wasn’t the same as radio,” Lawrence recalled. “I wasn’t able to be out in the community quite as often as I liked. I did that for about 2 ½ years. My husband wanted to move school districts. We ended up moving to Corning and I got a job back in radio, which was really where my heart was. I was very comfortable there, working with some of the best professionals in the area. And then we moved to Locke, New York.”
In Locke, the town named after English philosopher John Locke and is the birthplace of the 13th President of the United States Millard Fillmore, Lawrence accepted a position working with Finger Lakes Radio. That job became another stepping-stone in her career journey.
“I was blessed to again work with some great professionals,” the new publisher said. “And then COVID hit and shut everything down. Everyone lost their jobs. It turned out to be a blessing because I was offered a local position with a branding and communications company from Canada. That job catapulted me into the world of business.”
Lawrence spent two more years learning about branding and marketing communications before joining the staff at the Cortland Standard newspaper as the advertising, marketing and events director. After recently watching that paper close (see below), Lawrence was able to take what she learned at the Standard and know exactly how to approach the next opportunity which led her to the shores of Lake Ontario.
Coming to Oswego
An important part of the newspaper business at the Oswego Palladium-Times is commercial printing. The Palladium-Times prints all newspapers published by Eagle Newspapers. It also printed The Cortland Standard.
“That’s how I ended up in Oswego,” Lawrence explained. “The Cortland Standard had always printed their own newspaper. In its last year, we knew we had to outsource and we shut the presses down and hired The Palladium-Times to print our newspaper. At the time, I was working with the Pall-Times on behalf of the Cortland Standard and that’s how I met the leaders of the Oswego County Media Group. They became our partners.”
Impressed by their colleague from the Cortland Standard, the leaders at Sample News Group, the company that owns The Palladium-Times and OCMG, knew exactly who to call when the paper’s last publisher decided to leave her post. As a result of their past work together, Lawrence was familiar with the basic inner workings of The Palladium-Times and OCMG. She was named publisher in March 2025.
Upon her appointment, Lawrence said, “Coming into media when I was such a young person and watching first-hand the changes that occurred, has prepared me for this job as publisher. Keeping up on technology and the way we are gathering news and distributing information has also prepared me.”
In a time when the importance of local news is as great as it has ever been, the new publisher of the Oswego County Media Group understands her role. And she is resolutely prepared to take it on.
“Being out in the community and providing more local news, news that people want to read, will make the newspaper more relevant,” Lawrence said. “At the end of the day, whether it is broadcast or print media, it’s a staple in the community. If that goes away, people won’t realize the trouble it will bring. My heart has always been with local media. I want to see it be around forever.”
That’s a sentiment even an 18th century satirist and author can get behind.
Q&A with Mindy Lawrence
Oswego County Business: What do you want the people of Oswego to know about Mindy Lawrence, the new publisher of the esteemed publications that comprise the Oswego County Media Group?
Mindy Lawrence: While I don’t know everything about this community yet, I will try to make sure the news coming out of our office is fair and accurate and we are being the eyes and ears of the community for them.
Q: Can you discuss some of your plans for the papers?
A: We’ve put some new programs in place already. We are doing special pages again and will present different advertising opportunities without overpowering the reader’s experience. We had a special Easter page. In honor of National Car Care Month (April), we gave our sponsors the opportunity to advertise in a more focused capacity. We’re also going to give businesses the opportunity to advertise directly on our website. I would like us in the community more. Whether it is on the news side or advertising side, we need to have a better presence. We want to partner again with different community events.
Q: How do you make the newspaper more relevant?
A: By being in the community. People can get a lot of their national news by going to different websites, but what they can’t get is local news. People want to hear and know about what’s happening in their neighborhoods.
Q: As the new publisher and veteran in the media industry, what is your take on the current local media environment across the country?
A: A newspaper is held to a very different standard and that’s what scares me about news from social media. Essentially, a newspaper is a permanent record of history. News is not the same if you’re gathering your information from TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. Citizen journalism — without credentials — scares me.
Q: Realizing you came to Oswego at the end of a particularly tough winter and you probably haven’t had a chance to see much, what are your initial thoughts about the Port City?
A: I’ve seen a little bit. I’ve been driving around the city to get to know it. I’ve met the mayor and the president of the college. Also, every time a reader comes into the office, I personally go out to meet them. It’s important.
Q: Tell us about your family?
A: I have three daughters. I have two attending the University at Buffalo and one at Mansfield Pennsylvania University. My husband is a long-time educator and a district administrator in Moravia Central School District.
Q: Are you planning on moving your family to Oswego?
A: We are planning to move here.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I golf a lot. I’m a 12 handicapper. When we moved to Locke, we found a house close to a golf course. That’s how consumed I am with golf. I’m always looking for women to play golf with and look forward to playing around Oswego.
Q: Of course, with this big lake, there also is plenty of water activity. Do you like to fish, water ski, boat?
A: I grew up on a lake. I spent my entire childhood on Lamoka Lake, a smaller lake in the Finger Lakes region. I was out on the boat, waterskiing and knee-boarding all the time. That’s all I did. I’m looking forward to having the water so close.
New Publisher to Oversee Cortland Paper
As Mindy Lawrence started her new position in Oswego, she and the Sample News Group also quickly realized there might be a way to revitalize and save the Cortland Standard, the second-oldest family-owned newspaper in New York state. The paper stopped publishing March 13, after 158 years in business.
“So, we got to work very quickly to try and figure out how to make that happen. We went through a few court processes — bankruptcy — and here we are,” Lawrence explained. “We immediately started to figure out the logistics of it, how to get staff back and figure out what we needed to change in order to not only bring a better paper to the Cortland area but also make it sustainable.”
With cost-cutting measures in place, a trimmed staff of 10, the Standard resumed with Lawrence as its publisher, taking on double-duty along with her position in Oswego, on May 17.
“We’re bringing back a full 24-page newspaper, Tuesday through Friday, with a 32-page paper on the weekend,” Lawrence said. “We will be able to bring better value to our readers there.”
Through the aid of technology, Lawrence will seamlessly oversee both newsgathering outlets and she couldn’t be happier. Keeping costs down is going to be one of her priorities while still not having it affect the quality of the news. Being out in the community more will also be key.
“We have to be in the community more,” Lawrence admitted. “People want to read local news and the more we are in the community, the more the Cortland community will support us.”
“A community newspaper is needed in a town like Cortland,” she added. “We were able to save some jobs after Cortland was left as a ‘news desert.’ But not now. It’s a thrill to have it back.”
Tom and Jerry Caraccioli are freelance writers originally from Oswego, who have co-authored three books: “STRIKING SILVER: The Untold Story of America’s Forgotten Hockey Team,” “BOYCOTT: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” and “Ice Breakers.”
