With the unfortunate closure of the News-Leader, a staple in the Minerva and Malvern communities, Jordan Miller – News (JMN) is announcing the start of the JMN Journal, a community paper, to fill the void left by the departure of the News-Leader.
JMN has grown into one of Ohio’s fastest growing online platforms, providing news, sports, and weather information to followers in Ohio and throughout the Stark, Carroll, and Tuscarawas County communities since early 2020.
“It’s surreal that it’s even an option for me to give back to the community with a local paper,” said Jordan Miller, the owner of JMN.
Miller’s vision is to keep local news local. He believes a “local newspaper” should be owned and operated at the local level, without resourcing content from other cities or states.
JMN’s website, www.jordanmiller.news, has been viewed by more than 1.5 million people in the last 12 months. Thanks to the support from local businesses who advertise on the website and social media platforms, it allows Miller and his team to provide coverage of area news and sports.
The JMN Journal will cover news, sports and community events happening in the Minerva, Malvern and Waynesburg areas with a Thursday publish date – keeping with the same trend of the previous publication. The newspaper will be available at no-cost on local newsstands. For those who want the paper mailed to them, subscription rates will soon be made available.
“I don’t believe that people should pay to find out what’s happening down the road from them,” Miller said. “My company prides ourselves on providing free news content.”
Miller has an extensive resume in the media world. Working at all levels, including newspaper, television, social media and most recently as a radio host on “Live and Local with Jordan Miller” on News-Talk 1480 WHBC from 10a-12p Monday to Friday.
A 2014 graduate of United Local High School, Miller always dreamed big.
“I was an athlete. During my off seasons, or when my siblings played sports, I would take photos with a nice camera my grandparents and mom bought me,” Miller said. “He quickly grew to love photography at a young age.”
Things fell into place roughly a year after high school graduation.
“I got my start in the news media industry at 19 years old, taking over as the sports editor of the Free Press Standard in Carrollton in 2015,” Miller said. “Seeing my photos published in a newspaper became a dream of mine while still in high school. When the job became open, I had to jump at the opportunity.”
Like most dreams, sacrifices had to be made – both personally and professionally.
“I took a drastic pay cut to join the Free Press Standard staff. I was working at Alliance Castings. I hated that job, but my mom wouldn’t let me quit until I had another job in line. We butted heads every day,” Miller said. “I was one of five applicants to apply at the FPS. During my interview with David Schloss, the owner at the time, I promised that I would do everything to keep the area informed. It became my top goal.”
Miller spent two years covering the accomplishments of local athletes, including Carrollton’s first state wrestling champion Aidan Pasiuk, before receiving an offer he said he couldn’t refuse – a job with NBC in Steubenville (WTOV-9).
Miller’s dreams quickly changed, although his heart always remained with newspapers. After two years at WTOV-9, he received a promotion to NBC in Cleveland (WKYC-3) at just 22 years old.
“Like most people, I had short-term and long-term goals – I still do. One of my long-term goals was to work in Cleveland, but I didn’t think that would happen until I was 30 or older. I applied for the opening at WKYC-3 without any chance in the world. Little did I know, I just needed to believe in myself,” he said. “They called me the day after my 22nd birthday. They gave me a chance that forever changed my life.”
During his time as a journalist at WKYC, he earned an Emmy Award for his work on the evening news and returned to the Free Press Standard to run the sports department on the side.
He was sidelined in the fall of 2020 after a motorcycle accident kept him off work for months while he rehabbed.
“After my accident, that was probably the hardest four months of my life,” Miller noted. “I suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and was ordered to do physical therapy. I wasn’t ready to return to WKYC, mentally or physically, so we parted ways at the beginning of 2020. Those were some of the darkest, yet brightest days of my life.”
Miller then started to do independent reporting in the spring of 2020, right at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I knew how boring Governor DeWine’s daily press conferences could be. I knew if I thought they were boring, Ohioans didn’t want to sit through the full thing,” he noted. “I began to break down the press conferences with live videos or just direct quotes. That way people didn’t have to watch the full video to get the information.”
Miller’s online following exploded, he quickly became the go-to resource for all news related to Covid-19 not only in Ohio, but throughout the United States. More than 50,000 people follow Jordan Miller – News on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
“There are still some days I don’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve been blessed beyond belief, and I want to use my platform to give back to a community who has been so supportive of my wild dreams since I was a teenager.”
News, sports, and weather will still be published daily on www.jordanmiller.news while also being published in the JMN Journal.
The first edition of the JMN Journal is scheduled to hit the stands Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. To start, the paper will be a bi-weekly publication.