Examiner Publisher Defies Naysayers

There is just something about the feel of a newspaper in his hands that appeals to Adam Stone. When the Patent Trader closed it's doors in 2007, the freelance reporter questioned where Mt. Kisco and surrounding communities would get their news.

He ended up penning his own answer to that query. 

Stone runs a growing set of weekly publications in Westchester County, under the banner of Examiner Media. In a world that seems bent on pronouncing “print is dead,” he's successfully challenging the notion.

“A lot of it is by intuition.” said Stone. His office is wherever it needs to be. The publisher, named one of Editor and Publisher's 25 under 35 in 2011, is comfortable inside the Bedford Hills Panera wearing a sweatshirt and a friendly smile. “I didn't come from an advertising or a publishing background so the business building aspect of this has had to be by intuition.”

Stone launched the Examiner in 2007 after watching the Patent Trader fold. The 50-year-old weekly publication was operated by the Gannet Company after it was sold by Main Street Connect founder Carll Tucker in 1999. Stone began his professional career as a reporter for The Star in 2001, also owned by Gannet, with some of his work appearing in the Patent Trader. 

“A lot of people I used to work with were under employed or working outside of the business,” said Stone. In August of 2007, he gathered some of those colleagues together with the idea of launching a new publication. In September of that year the first issue of The Examiner hit the streets. This past August, The White Plains Examiner followed The Putnam Examiner and The Northern Westchester Examiner to become the fourth weekly newspaper in his growing chain.

“When I had one, I couldn't imagine two. With two I didn't see three. When the third came along, four seemed impossible. It's becoming a lot of work but we'll see where it goes,” said Stone.

Stone stands firm against the notion that print is dying. He's revisited the concept of the newsroom, shunning walls and desks for mobile phones and computers. His staff meetings are in coffee houses, not conference rooms.

Still, Stone said he knows the notion of creating an actual physical newspaper seems anathema in society moving toward tablet computers and instant access. He was confident it would work, but doesn't blame any of the naysayers. “It wasn't crazy to call it a crazy idea,” he said.

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