Daily Herald Media Group launches weekly paper in Shelbyville

The Daily Herald Media Group, publisher of the Daily Herald, is on the move again.

Less than a month after its launch of the Glenview Herald and the Northbrook Herald weekly newspapers, the employee-owned company will begin publication of the Shelbyville Eagle.

The Eagle will be a free weekly tabloid-size paper available at Shelbyville-area businesses and published every Thursday.

Its first edition comes a little more than a month after the Shelbyville Daily Union ceased publication of its print edition.

"We've become very familiar with central Illinois in recent years, and we knew the people of Shelbyville were going to be without a printed newspaper. That's just not right. A newspaper is a part of the soul of a community," said Stefanie Anderson, general manager of the company's now-22 titles in Central and Southern Illinois. "Hyperlocal news coverage and advertising are vital parts of any community, and we'll bring that back to Shelbyville."

Shelbyville is the county seat of Shelby County, south of Decatur and west of Pana, which is headquarters of the Daily Herald Media Group's Pana News Group of weekly newspapers.

"This is all about innovation and growth," said Doug Ray, Chairman of the Board of and CEO of the Daily Herald Media Group. "The Shelbyville Eagle is the latest example of finding an underserved niche and creating a business plan to benefit advertisers and readers. Despite the virus-induced challenges we face, it is more important than ever that we work together to develop new initiatives."

Providing oversight of the Eagle will be John Broux, the editor and operations manager of the Pana Group, which already includes the Pana News Palladium, the Free Press-Progress in Nokomis, the Golden Prairie News in Assumption, the Ramsey News-Journal and the Blue Mound Leader.

The Daily Herald Media Group also operates the Moultrie County News-Progress in Sullivan at the north end of Lake Shelbyville.