Wally Lage

Since 1991, the Missouri Press Association has been inducted several honorees each year in to the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame. Thursday night during the MPA convention in Columbia, Mo., another member of the Southeast Missourian family was inducted: Wally Lage.

Lage is the fourth Southeast Missourian executive to join the ranks of Hall of Fame members. In 2000 George and Fred Naeter, who founded the Southeast Missourian in 1904, were inducted. In 2003 Gary Rust -- chairman of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and some 50 other weekly and daily newspapers in eight states -- was inducted.

Lage is vice president of newspapers for Rust Communications, overseeing the operations of community newspapers in a variety of markets. Since 2005 he also has served as president of PAGE Cooperative, a consortium of U.S. newspapers that deals with newspaper vendors.

In today's competition for access to news, one of the industry mantras is "hyperlocal news," which emphasizes the value of local content. Lage was a visionary in this area when, in 1971 as editor of the Boonville Daily News, he switched that community newspaper to all local news -- while completing his master's degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

We are proud of our newest member of the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame, whose induction is, in part, recognition of Wally Lage's many contributions to newspapering.