Branson Tri-Lakes News shuttered along with two area papers

The Branson Tri-Lakes News and its sister publications in Barry and Stone counties have been shuttered, but no announcement has been made about their fate.

Chad Stebbins, executive director of the Missouri Press Association, said the change was abrupt.

“We are so sorry for all the employes and readers affected by the closure of the three papers,” he said in an email. “MPA was not given an opportunity to try and find potential buyers for these publications.”

The Alabama-based Lancaster Management Inc. owns more than 20 publications in multiple states including The Branson Tri-Lakes Newspapers Inc., which acquired the Barry County Advertiser and Stone County Republican in 2023, according to a report in the Branson newspaper.

Messages left for LMI and for Charles Lancaster and John Lancaster were not returned by deadline. The LMI website also lists publications in Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia.

Stebbins said the at least temporary cessation of the Branson Tri-Lakes News at 200 Industrial Park Drive in Hollister has caused a ripple effect beyond the impact for its employees, advertisers and readers.

“We are concerned about the 12 or so Missouri newspapers that were printed by the press in Hollister. They are all scrambling to find another printer with zero notice,” Stebbins said. “They have loyal readers and advertisers who are counting on them to deliver a printed product.”

Stebbins said the press was used by the Aurora Advertiser, Barry County Advertiser, Branson Globe, Cassville Democrat, Greenfield Vedette, Howell County News, Lamar Democrat, Neosho Daily News, Stone County Republican, Wright County Journal, and publications in Carthage, Sarcoxie and Shell Knob.

“Several of the papers are temporarily being printed by the Eldon Advertiser Press,” Stebbins said. “For the Cassville Democrat, that’s a three-hour drive.”

Shelby Bruno, a reporter for the Branson Tri-Lakes News since November 2025, said she was one of five editorial employees notified by text the afternoon of July 16 that the “parent company had folded the paper.”

“My colleagues and I in the editorial department received the news via Facebook Messenger around 1:40 p.m. yesterday,” Bruno said in a message to Springfield Business Journal.

Bruno was working remotely but said employees who reportedly confirmed the closure have been scrambling to preserve the archives of the publication with deep roots. The Taney County Republican, which is part of the succession of papers that became the Branson Tri-Lakes News, began publishing in 1895.

In a follow-up interview, Bruno said the shuttering was a shock.

“It just felt so sudden,” she said. “There was no warning notice from our parent company.”