Even in retirement, Jim McClure hasn’t stopped editing the news. He just moved the newsroom onto Facebook.
Once the editor of the York Daily Record, McClure now manages a network of Facebook groups, ten directly, and cross-posting content to as many as twenty, connecting thousands of York County residents to local news, shared history, civic resources, and one another. It’s unpaid work. But in his words, “I act like a city editor for the county.”
And that’s exactly what he does.
For Jim, the work of information sharing is both curating headlines as well as building storytelling as civic infrastructure: it’s linking a resident looking for a plumber with a neighbor who knows one, moderating digital discourse with care and rigor, and/or preserving York’s history while shaping its future. And at a time when local news is shrinking, McClure’s approach offers a powerful model for how digital communities can sustain, or even grow, a sense of place.
A Legacy Rooted in Civic Journalism
McClure’s journey into digital community building didn’t begin after retirement. It was seeded in the York Daily Record’s forward-thinking digital strategy, dating back to the mid-1990s. As early adopters, the paper embraced online platforms like bulletin boards and early websites, eventually expanding into Facebook groups and community-specific verticals.
Throughout the rise of Facebook groups, YDR founded their own moderated spaces: Retro York and Fixing York weren’t just content initiatives, they were part of a civic engagement strategy to meet residents where they were and give them tools to improve their communities. Today, McClure continues that mission independently, drawing on decades of journalistic experience and a deep knowledge of the region’s cultural and civic pulse.
A Volunteer Publisher of the People
Though retired, McClure still puts in a large amount of work daily, monitoring stats, moderating posts for relevance and tone, and perhaps most importantly cross-pollinating stories across groups to broaden their reach. The communities he manages (many focused on hyper-local issues like preservation, nostalgia, or problem-solving) are carefully tended ecosystems: posts are pre-approved, off-topic or political debates are redirected or taken down, and transparency about decisions is enforced when possible without adding to the noise or controversy, though largely through DMs.
This culture is what allows the groups to function not just as digital bulletin boards, but as community-building spaces. In mobilizing opposition to a proposed project or sharing updates on historic sites in danger, McClure’s curation of York’s online spaces is helping residents see themselves as stakeholders in their own local story.
History as a Community Development Tool
One of McClure’s greatest passions is the integration of history and civic life. Under his guidance, the York Daily Record once formed a “historian cohort” of bloggers and local experts, many of whom still contribute content, podcasts, and videos to the broader ecosystem. As a historian himself, Jim understands the importance of history as a gateway to both energizing community, as well as a way of understanding where we are now, and where we’re going as a place.
Jim sees moving from using history as just nostalgia to a tool to help residents understand their communities past, present, and future as a vital role for local journalism and information to play.
But is it sustainable?
Is there a Jim McClure in every community? Jim seems to think there is. Retired journalists, historians, or someone with a passion for their place and free time could
Still, McClure knows not everyone has the means to volunteer full-time. He’s interested in seeing whether small, grant-funded models could support this kind of work in places like Mifflin County, where he lived for nearly a decade. Could a part-time “digital town crier” become a new role in the local information ecosystem?
Ideally, these roles would be supported with salary or stipend. But Jim believes local journalism’s future will hinge on whether we can find—and fund—people like that. People who “hit folks where they live,” who balance civic rigor with neighborly voice, who know that the best kind of information isn’t just what’s timely—it’s what helps us feel rooted.