Longtime Mining Journal Publisher Jim Reevs has retired from his position. Reevs has seen many changes in the newspaper industry over the years but remains to stay active in the community. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Jim Reevs, publisher of The Mining Journal for 27 years, has been involved in many endeavors throughout this lengthy tenure at the newspaper, ranging from coverage of the controversial topic of high local gas prices to overseeing the popular Christmas charity, the Cheer Club.

Reevs, who retired last week from his longtime position, reflected on his years at The Mining Journal and the newspaper business in general.

“I’ve seen more changes in the last three years than I saw for the other 39 put together,” Reevs said.

He has mixed feelings on those changes.

“It’s kind of bad,” Reevs said. “It’s the impact social media has had on newspapers.”

However, he believes newspapers still play an important role in the community.

How that role is played, though, isn’t yet determined, and that’s a sentiment expressed by many people in the news business.

“There’s nobody that does the same work as newspapers,” Reevs said. What’s important, he said, is the work newspaper journalists perform in comparison with other journalists.

Electronic media journalists, for example, don’t do the in-depth or investigative work as much as their print counterparts, he said.

“In what form it’s going to be distributed 10 years from now, I have no idea,” Reevs said.

He does, however, believe newspapers have a future.

“I think that there’s going to be newspapers around — websites and newspapers — for years,” Reevs said, “but I don’t know. Down in Detroit, they only deliver three days a week.”

Reevs has 42 years of experience in the media business, starting with a stint as advertising director at the Rhinelander (Wisconsin) Daily News from 1977 to 1983. He was retail sales manager at The News Chronicle in Thousand Oaks, California, from 1983 to 1985 and retail sales manager at the Fond du Lac (Wisconsin) Reporter from 1985 to 1989.

Reevs was publisher/general manager at the West Bend Daily News in West Bend, Wisconsin, from 1989 to 1992, becoming publisher/general manager at the Journal in 1992.

In his tenure at the Journal, the newspaper has kept an eye on tax dollars spent in local government. The Mining Journal was instrumental in stopping the retire-rehire program for Marquette County, saving the taxpayers millions of dollars.

Reevs said the paper asked the “tough questions” about the city of Marquette when it provided employees with health care for life, even though they had fewer than 10 years of service to the city.

The Journal kept after the local gas stations to get prices lowered in Marquette after it was consistently listed by AAA as the highest in the state of Michigan. Several stations boycotted the sale of the Journal because of this reporting, but gas prices in the market came down significantly.

Newspaper publishers, however, need to be active in the community, and Reevs has been a strong community advocate in many areas, including supporting mining in the Upper Peninsula and spearheading the Journal’s sponsorship of the U.P. 200 sled dog race. In fact, the paper is recognized as the Charter Lead Dog Sponsor. An avid skier and bicyclist, Reevs and the Journal have been strong sponsors of the Noquemanon Ski Marathon and the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic as well.

He has served on the board of the Lake Superior Community Partnership, the Northern Michigan University Blue Line Club, the Shiras Institute board, the Rotary West Foundation board, the United States Olympic Education board and the NMU Athletic Advisory Committee.

Reevs is active with the media consortium for the United Way of Marquette County and was a past co-chairman for its campaign. He was a past leader of the Marquette County Ambassadors and worked with the YMCA of Marquette County as a consultant for the Y’s foundation.

Even though he has stepped down from his publisher role, Reevs plans to stay involved in the community.

For instance, he is president of the Shiras Institute and will continue serving for the Salvation Army and the United Way.

Reevs also plans to follow the Cheer Club — a program in which community members’ donated toys and money are distributed via the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent de Paul Society during the holidays — to make sure it continues.

“That’s kind of a passion for me,” he said. “That’s as important as anything that I’ve done.”

Of course, a newspaper wouldn’t exist it if weren’t for the people who read it and the businesses who place ads among its pages.

“I very much appreciate the support from the community by both the advertisers and subscribers that have continued to support the paper through the 27 years that I’ve been here,” Reevs said. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here.”

State Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette, said in an email that running a newspaper can be just as controversial as being an elected official.

“No matter what you do, you’re not going to make everyone happy,” Cambensy said. “But if you’re fair, consistent and honest, which I believe Jim has always tried to be, people will respect you.

“In a day and age where some news outlets have blurred their oath to deliver the facts to citizens, The Mining Journal goes above and beyond to get the facts right. I wish Jim the best in his retirement and look forward to the continued high quality reporting we rely on from The Mining Journal under his replacement.”

During a retirement celebration held at the Holiday Inn in Marquette Friday, Cambensy presented Reevs with a tribute commemorating his time at the Journal.

Reevs has been married to his wife Maureen for 37 years. They have two twins, Timothy and Jessica, and eight grandchildren. Reevs also has two stepsons, Rusty and Mike Dunn.

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Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.