Local Media Company Under New Ownership
Kevlin has retired; Barnwell named publisher; Klein named editor
As of Friday, April 16, Iron String Press, Inc, publisher of The Freeman’s Journal, Hometown Oneonta and www.allotsego.com is under new ownership.
Tara Barnwell, general manager of Iron String Press, becomes president and publisher and actor-writer Greg Klein becomes editor of the company’s print and digital news and entertainment sources, succeeding Jim Kevlin.
Kevlin after 15 years as editor, publisher and president of Iron String Press and its media family, has retired.
With the new ownership, Iron String Press remains the only locally owned and locally focused news and entertainment operation in Otsego County.
Kevlin and his late wife, Mary Joan (M.J.) Kevlin, purchased The Freeman’s Journal in 2006 from Elinor Vincent and Michael Moffat, who had owned the paper for nearly a decade. The Freeman’s Journal was founded in 1808 by Judge William Cooper and has served Otsego County for the past 213 years. Kevlin, a graduate of Colgate University, spent 48 years in newspapers, mostly as an editor, in Upstate New York, New England and Pennsylvania.
The Kevlins expanded the company to include an Oneonta-based newspaper, Hometown Oneonta, and an online news source covering Otsego County, www.allotsego.com. M.J. Kevlin died in 2017 after a three-year battle with cancer. Kevlin and his current wife, the Rev. Sylvia Kevlin, pastor of Milford Methodist Church, who is also retiring at the end of the month, are planning to move out west to be closer to family.
