• by Ray Schultz , April 16, 2025

The Columbus Messenger has gone out of business after 50+ years of serving Columbus and other Ohio communities.

The Messenger announced its closure last week in a letter to readers and advertisers. 

“After 50 years of providing solid local journalism providing news stories, features, and photographs to our readers and communities, as well as being a strong and beneficial source of advertising for local businesses, the Columbus Messenger Newspapers will close on April 11 and no longer publish its five newspapers,” the paper wrote last week. “These newspapers include the Grove City Messenger, Groveport Messenger, Madison (County) Messenger, South/Canal Winchester Messenger, and the Westside Messenger.”

Phil Daubel, owner and publisher of the Columbus Messenger Newspapers, explained that the “current economic climate and the changing nature of the newspaper industry, including how people get their news and how advertisers reach their customers, has adversely impacted our ability to continue publishing. The decreasing advertising revenue and our accompanying rising expenses make it no longer economically feasible for our newspapers to continue.”