John Heaston, the founder, publisher, and visionary leader of The Reader and El Perico, died on Friday, May 31, following a four-year battle with leukemia. Heaston is fondly remembered as a dedicated advocate for inclusive reporting, offering Omaha over 30 years of independent community news and watchdog journalism.
“We called it community media, because we were one step closer to the community… we didn’t have to print all the news—just the news the mainstream media missed,” Heaston said of The Reader in Omaha Press Club’s May 2024 newsletter. “I feel like I haven’t worked a day in my life. I was able to do something that matters.”
Heaston passed on the same morning he was set to be honored as the Omaha Press Club’s 178th “Face on the Barroom Floor,” an award recognizing newsmakers who impact the community. The Friday night ceremony turned into a memorial for Heaston due to his sudden passing, his mother, Dorris Heaston, told the Omaha World-Herald.
The impact of Heaston's passing is felt deeply by his friends and family, and resonates far beyond, touching every reader, colleague, and journalist whose careers were influenced by his visionary publications—including my own. I had the opportunity to intern with The Reader and El Perico as an undergraduate journalism student in early 2023.
The experience marked my first venture beyond campus with reporting, interviewing, and writing—my confidence as a “real-world” journalist grew significantly. Producing bilingual articles for both publications, I gained new insights and improved my abilities over time, developing key skills that would eventually land me my current job with Omaha Magazine. Heaston also provided Bill Sitzmann, Associate Publisher and Photographer at Omaha Magazine, with his first photography assignment upon Sitzmann's arrival in Omaha, launching his work in this city.
El Perico, a bilingual Spanish-language newspaper in Omaha, was deeply committed to reaching underserved communities. El Perico not only translated some of The Reader's most impactful stories into Spanish, but also produced content specifically for Omaha's Latinx community. Under Heaston’s leadership, both The Reader and El Perico flourished. The Reader received numerous accolades from the Great Plains Journalism and AAN Editorial Awards, while El Perico won more than a dozen José Martí Awards.
Heaston also constantly advocated for the Omaha Star, a Black-owned and led publication. His passion for inclusive and collaborative journalism between Black, Hispanic, and alternative media resulted in multiple revenue labs, a GNI Challenge Grant, and programming funded by the Democracy Fund and others, according to the Association of Alternative News Media, where Heaston served as a former board president and was an active member for many years.
Heaston had been battling acute myeloid leukemia since 2020, making it impossible to keep The Reader and El Perico going despite every effort—both publications ceased publishing in September 2023—until just last month.
In early May 2024, Heaston gifted The Reader and El Perico to Nebraska Public Media, an organization whose mission is to provide diverse and impactful news and information in every community, aligning directly with his own mission. Nebraska Public Media intends to maintain the publications’ archives and continue to add content.
“I’m pleased The Reader and El Perico will continue to make a positive impact on our community under the direction of Nebraska Public Media,” Heaston said in the release on May 9.
We at Omaha Magazine salute and thank John Heaston for his leadership, courage, and selflessness, even while facing his own battles. He is greatly missed.
