Opinion: The role of a business journal in a region

Marty Goodnight

At Springfield Business Journal, our role is simple: business news. That’s our lane. And it’s a lane we take seriously – because business news, told truthfully, helps drive the economy forward.

Not as a cheerleader. Not as a harsh critic. But as a steward – one who knows the direction we are going and shows up every day to do the work.

That’s a critical distinction. When I’ve spoken with leaders in other markets – cities without a strong business news platform – I hear it over and over. They’re missing something vital. A hub for business connection. A credible resource for data and decision-making. A publication trusted to tell the local business story fully and independently. Not once in a while. Not as a second thought. But every single day.

Unfortunately, the contraction of legacy media (specifically community newspapers owned by large hedge funds) has left many communities starved for this kind of business news coverage.

The Springfield region is not one of them. Still, changes to the news business made us take inventory. What exactly does SBJ contribute? What are we building here?

In 2024, SBJ produced an estimated 2,860 online articles (11 average per weekday × 260 publishing days), including both reported stories and news summaries; filled roughly 1,664 print pages with additional articles and other content (32 pages × 52 weeks); and easily featured 624 Newsmakers (averaging 12 every week of the year). Each issue carried up to 300 new business listings/legal filings weekly, turning our pages into a ledger of economic activity in this region.

Online, those stories generated more than 2.3 million visits from 1.1 million unique users, logging nearly 9 million interactions – and we’re pacing even higher in 2025.

Our email engines amplified that work: more than 5,200 daily story promotions (2 emails × 10 stories daily × 260 days), plus all other e-newsletters totaling over 800 emails reaching roughly 7,500 subscribers per send. That’s over 6 million inbox impressions annually.

And that doesn’t even count the breaking news. The in-depth reports. The number of face-to-face interviews with thousands of local sources we quote, meet and report on every year, the events and thousands of in-person connections made. What separates us isn’t just volume. It’s the depth of our commitment – specifically to business news. That’s the responsibility I carry as publisher, and beginning soon, as owner. And I’m comfortable saying it out loud: We believe we have a duty, as an organization, to help drive this economy forward.

That doesn’t mean we shape the news to make things look better than they are. Our newsroom is independent. Always has been. Coverage decisions are based on the story, not the relationship. Advertiser, sponsor, subscriber, vendor, friend – even family – it doesn’t move you up the list. And yes, for the record, Shallina and I are married. If the last name didn’t give it away, citing our marriage in stories certainly has. Transparency matters. So does trust.

Our job is to get the news right. To cover what’s newsworthy. To do so ethically, truthfully and with integrity. Because the trust we build isn’t just with readers – it’s with the region.

But I also want to be clear: Our role in the community doesn’t stop at coverage. That newsroom independence doesn’t preclude us from being proud of our place in the local economy. I’m not saying this to sell you something. I’m saying it because I believe in what we do. Supporting SBJ – reading us, returning our reporters’ calls, engaging with our coverage, stapling a name list to the cover and routing it through your office – isn’t just helping our newsroom. It’s helping your community.

It’s helping grow the region.

Over our 45-year history, SBJ has played a quiet but essential role in this economy. We’ve helped businesses launch, leaders rise and conversations evolve. We’ve contributed to workforce development, economic resilience and civic progress. Not by lobbying for it. Not by demanding it. But by reporting the news that helps others make decisions – big ones, small ones, hard ones and game-changing ones.

We work alongside outstanding local media – radio stations, TV broadcasters, niche magazines and community print/online newspapers – and we’re proud to be among them. But we also know exactly who we are. We don’t try to be everything. We stay in our lane. And our lane is business.

It’s not a slogan. It’s not a sales pitch. It’s a daily grind. It’s cutting wood and hauling water – in print, online and in inboxes – every single day.

And this isn’t just infrastructure.

This is economic development infrastructure – working alongside chambers, city leaders, educators, employers, banks, builders and entrepreneurs. All of us pulling in the same direction. So if there’s a list out there – a list of people, organizations and institutions committed to the bold vision of growing this region — go ahead and rip out a sheet of paper. Write Springfield Business Journal at the top.

And sign us up.

Marty Goodnight is the publisher of Springfield Business Journal. He can be reached at mgoodnight@sbj.net.