13-03-2025
‘Goodbye Cortland, and Godspeed': CNY newspaper prints its final edition
CORTLAND, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The city of Cortland is saying goodbye to a mainstay on Main Street.
Before the ink dried on Thursday morning's edition of the Cortland Standard, issues with red ink had already started to circulate. Financial troubles for the business meant Thursday would be the final time you could flip or click through the Cortland family-owned newspaper.
'Goodbye Cortland, and Godspeed' was the headline when you visited the Cortland Standard website on Thursday morning.
After more than 157 years, the family-owned newspaper said it's stopping the presses.
According to an article published on the paper's website at 3 a.m. Thursday, the Cortland Standard Printing Company will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
17 workers are now without a job.
The publisher and editor blaming declining readership and increasing costs.
'I hoped this day would never come,' publisher and editor Evan C. Geibel said. 'I'm so very grateful to my colleagues and the community for what they've done for me, my family and each other.'
Sources tell NewsChannel 9 that employees were alerted Wednesday afternoon and by Wednesday night, a white sheet of paper could be seen on the door of the Cortland Standard's office, reading: 'The offices of the Cortland Standard are closed.'
According to its website, the Cortland Standard was the second-oldest family-owned newspaper in New York, and one of the five oldest family-owned newspapers in America.
It's first edition was peeled off a flatbed press in 1867.
Closures and mergers of local newspapers is not uncommon. Many newspapers have shifted from dailies to weeklies or ended print publishing altogether.
According to Northwestern's Local News Initiative, newspapers continue to disappear at a rate of more than two per week. In 2024, 130 newspapers shut down.
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