Ep 83 - Mike Jensen - former editor and co-owner Standard Democrat newspaper | Headlines, History and a New Calling

Send us Fan MailThe internet was once easy to dismiss, until it became the force that reshaped local journalism, politics, and everyday life. We sit down with Mike Jensen, a Sikeston native who spent nearly five decades in the newspaper business and helped shape what became the Standard Democrat, to talk about what it means to document a town while you’re living in it.Mike walks us from the era of manual typewriters, paste pots, and early offset printing to the moment newspapers lost the advantage of being “first.” We dig into how “Speak Out” gave residents a public place to vent, argue, and ask questions long before social media took over, and why that kind of local forum can be both valuable and volatile. Along the way, he shares the hard lesson of underestimating the internet and the real impact it had on small-town reporting, advertising, and attention.We also zoom out to what Mike believes Sikeston gets right: generosity and civic buy-in. From the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center and the YMCA to big community decisions that fueled jobs and infrastructure, he argues that the town’s best story is its people. And after leaving the paper, he finds a new purpose leading the Christian Academy, where he’s “paid in hugs” and focused on helping the next generation grow.Subscribe for more Sikeston stories, share this with someone who loves the 573, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. 👉 Subscribe, rate, and share The Doghouse — your home for Sikeston Bulldogs and everything Sikeston.🎧 Listen: Apple | Spotify | Amazon Music | Buzzsprout | iHeartRadio🌐 Visit: thedoghouse.buzzsprout.com📱 Follow: Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube ✉️ Contact: [email protected]