On October 1, 1977 two hundred workers from five unions went out on strike against Madison's major daily newspaper publisher, Madison Newspapers Inc., the publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times. Because of deteriorating negotiations over automation and pay cuts, the unions had prepared for the possibility of a strike during the summer by forming the Newspaper Unity Committee, a coalition with members from each union that was involved. On October 9, the Unity Committee began publishing the Madison Press Connection, a sixteen-page weekly that was distributed free to the community. After publishing for thirteen consecutive Sundays the strikers voted to become a daily paper. Publication then halted for five weeks while the paper was organized. The first issue, which was mailed to subscribers, appeared on February 7, 1978.
MNI maintained that the strike had little impact on their operations. Although their circulation dipped slightly, neither the Capital Times nor the Wisconsin State Journal missed a day of publication. By March 1978 the company had filled all of the strikers' jobs with permanent replacements. As a result, Press Connection workers began to discuss forming a permanent newspaper. In July 1978 a board of directors was appointed and the paper was reorganized as a cooperative. Many members of the community purchased stock in the cooperative. In August 1978 workers began receiving small paychecks.
The paper suffered a severe financial crisis in the fall of 1978 when business manager Josh Leo Kennedy authorized $50,000.00 in bad checks, embezzled about $7,000.00, and left town. An emergency pledge drive raised $70,000 to keep the paper going. In early 1979 MNI settled with the Wisconsin State Journal Editorial Association and the Newspaper Guild. The NLRB ordered MNI to pay the unions $60,000 and $250,000 respectively and to open six positions for writers. Meanwhile Press Connection subscriptions reached 13,600, but revenues continued to fall short of expenses. Some workers voted to go without pay in order to maintain publication. The financial situation continued to decline, although the paper received a $50,000 line of credit from a local bank after one member of the board put his house up for collateral. In the fall the Press Connection launched a capitalization campaign designed to raise $100,000 through stock sales and donations.
In the fall of 1979 the Press Connection made national news when it published what was known as Charles Hansen's “H-Bomb letter.” At the time, the Progressive, another Madison publication, was involved in a suit with the federal government concerning its right to publish this information. After the publication by the Press Connection, the government dropped its case.
Despite the fundraising efforts the paper's situation became increasingly desperate. The paper had approximately 14,000 paid subscribers and 800 stockholders, but it had a $90,000 debt and it was losing money monthly. On December 31, 1979 the board voted to suspend publication; the final issue of the Press Connection appeared on January 3, 1980.
