Swift County Monitor News

What Swift County Monitor News does

Swift County Monitor News is an independently owned local newspaper serving Swift County, Minnesota, headquartered at 101 12th St. So., Benson, MN. The publication operates a traditional community journalism model, producing a weekly print edition and a digital E-Edition available through publisher.etype.services, covering local news, government, sports, obituaries, opinions, classifieds, and legal public notices for residents and businesses of Benson and surrounding communities. The underlying technology stack is modest: a Drupal-based content management system powering the public website (swiftcountymonitor.com), a third-party e-edition platform for digital subscribers, and integration with the Minnesota Public Notice portal (mnpublicnotice.com) for legal notice distribution.

The business model is multi-stream and conventional for a small-market newspaper. Revenue is generated through print and digital subscriptions on an annual billing cadence, local advertising sales (contact routed via [email protected]), classified listings, and mandated public notice placements by government entities. The customer base is bipartite: individual consumers (Swift County residents seeking local news and community information) and local commercial and government buyers (Swift County businesses and municipalities purchasing advertising reach or required legal notice publication). Marketing is content-driven, relying on the publication's own website, social sharing buttons, and news alerts.

The operation is small, with headcount reported as 1-10 employees. Reed Anfinson is identified as Publisher and author of the editorial column "A Drop of Ink." The publication is privately held with no disclosed parent company, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no institutional investment identified. No patents, trademarks, partnerships, awards, certifications, or proprietary technology are documented. Active publishing is ongoing, with articles dated through June 2026 covering local weather, elections, sports, community events, and rural issues including dairy regulation.

Name

Swift County Monitor News

Legal name

Swift County Monitor

Website

https://swiftcountymonitor.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Swift County Monitor News is an independently owned local newspaper in Benson, Minnesota, publishing print and digital editions of local news, sports, obituaries, and public notices for Swift County residents and businesses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Local newspaper publishing
• Community news coverage
• Print newspaper subscriptions
• Digital e-edition
• Public notice publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Benson

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Print Subscriptions: Physical newspaper delivery to subscribers in Swift County and surrounding areas. Subscribers receive weekly or periodic editions of the Swift County Monitor.
2. Digital Subscriptions/E-Editions: Online access to newspaper content through e-edition services hosted at publisher.etype.services. Digital access supplements print subscriptions.
3. Advertising: Local advertising sold to businesses in Swift County and Benson, MN area. Contact email [email protected] indicates direct advertising sales.
4. Classifieds: Classified advertising section featuring local announcements, obituaries, community notices, and private party listings.
5. Public Notices: Legal public notices including government announcements, estate filings, public hearings, and official proceedings. These are published as Legals section.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Swift County Monitor News publishes a weekly community newspaper for Swift County, Minnesota, covering local news, government, sports, obituaries, opinions, and classifieds in both print and digital editions. The publication generates revenue through print and digital subscriptions, local advertising, classified listings, and paid public (legal) notices required by government entities and private parties.

Product overview

Swift County Monitor News operates as a traditional local newspaper with two main offerings: its print newspaper (the Main Edition) covering local news, sports, opinions, obituaries, public notices, and classifieds for Swift County, Minnesota; and its E-Edition digital subscription service for online reading.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Swift County Monitor (Main Edition) The primary local newspaper serving Swift County, Minnesota, covering local news, government, community events, sports, obituaries, opinions, classifieds, and public notices for residents of Benson and surrounding Swift County communities.
• E-Edition Digital/online edition of the Swift County Monitor accessible through the etype.services publisher platform, allowing readers to view the newspaper content online via a digital subscription service.
• Public Notice Publication Legal public notice publishing service featuring government announcements, estate filings, public hearings, and official proceedings published in the newspaper's Legals section and distributed through the Minnesota Public Notice website.
• Classified Advertising Classified advertising section featuring local announcements, obituaries, community notices, and private party listings available to Swift County residents and businesses.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Direct peers

• Lac qui Parle County Independent: A weekly community newspaper serving rural Lac qui Parle County in western Minnesota. Closely comparable to Swift County Monitor-News in small rural scale, print + digital subscriptions, local advertising, and public-notice publishing.
• Ortonville Independent: An independent small-town newspaper based in Ortonville, MN covering Big Stone County. Comparable in scale, rural west-central Minnesota geography, and traditional community-news + public-notice revenue model to Swift County Monitor-News.
• Morris Sun Tribune: A weekly community newspaper serving Stevens County, MN with print and digital editions covering local news, sports, and public notices. Directly comparable to Swift County Monitor-News in rural Minnesota positioning, county-scale reach, and traditional revenue model.
• West Central Tribune: A community newspaper based in Willmar, MN serving Kandiyohi County and surrounding west-central Minnesota. It is structurally comparable to Swift County Monitor-News: local print + digital edition, classifieds, and public-notice revenue serving a similar rural Minnesota county-level market.
• Granite Falls Tribune: A small-town Minnesota weekly newspaper covering Yellow Medicine County with print, digital, and public-notice operations. Closely mirrors Swift County Monitor-News in scale, rural Minnesota geography, community journalism focus, and subscription + advertising + legals revenue mix.

Broad incumbents

• Gannett Co. The largest U.S. newspaper publisher (USA TODAY network plus hundreds of local titles including many community newspapers). Directly comparable business activities — local news, subscriptions, advertising, public notices — but at national scale with sophisticated digital infrastructure.
• CNHI (Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.): A leading U.S. operator of community newspapers and associated digital properties across more than 20 states. Directly comparable to Swift County Monitor-News in small-town newspaper operations, subscription + advertising + public-notice revenue streams, and has historically been an active acquirer of community titles.
• Boone Newspapers: A privately held chain owning more than 60 community newspapers across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. Highly comparable in targeting small-town weekly newspapers with print + digital editions, local advertising, and public-notice revenue, and historically has been an active acquirer of small independents like Swift County Monitor-News.
• Forum Communications Company: A large privately held regional media company operating newspapers across North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, including the Fargo Forum. Comparable as a local-news publisher with overlapping Minnesota coverage, but operates across many titles at much greater scale than Swift County Monitor-News.
• Lee Enterprises: A major publicly traded U.S. newspaper chain owning dozens of daily and weekly local newspapers across more than 20 states. Operates the same newspaper-publishing business model (subscriptions, advertising, public notices) as Swift County Monitor-News, but at vastly greater scale and across multiple markets.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swift County Monitor News