FOSTORIA | Mayor Mennel Pushing Scanner Media to “Take Down The Fostoria Free Press”?

A series of private messages shared with The Fostoria Free Press suggest growing concern among some residents about the relationship between city officials and a local media outlet, as well as alleged efforts to pressure an independent news site.

In one exchange, a resident claims they heard that Mayor Don Mennel was “asking Zach to try to get [your site] taken down,” allegedly during a recent conversation at a DELLs restaurant. The same message says the other outlet’s operator “personally wants to take you down too,” though the sender admits they are “not sure why the Mayor is pushing him to do it too.”​

In a longer response, the Free Press publisher argues that this is tied to ongoing coverage of a promised splash pad project. The message asserts that the mayor “under budgeted the project by over a half million and had to ask city council for the money” and vows to “call him a liar” if he fails to follow through, saying the promise may have been made only to get elected. The publisher also insists the Fostoria Free Press site “will never be taken down,” noting that it is hosted on an out‑of‑country private server behind a content delivery network.​

The messages sharply criticize a competing outlet, Scanner Media, which the writer describes as “nothing but a PR puppet for the City of Fostoria.” The sender, who says they helped create Scanner Media’s original website and served as a Facebook administrator “for years,” claims they were removed after objecting to what they describe as a cozy relationship with city officials. According to that message, Scanner Media’s operator allegedly told them, “I have to play nice with the city so I can keep getting information,” and now posts only what “the city lets him.”​

The Free Press publisher argues that such an arrangement represents a serious conflict of interest, saying “no ‘Press’ should have an undisclosed partnership with a government agency,” and pledges to question future mayoral candidates about whether they support that kind of relationship. The writer contends that city leaders prefer media they can “control,” adding, “Don likes him because Zack is controllable, The Free Press is not.”

Taken together, the screenshots highlight a broader debate in Fostoria over independence, access, and transparency in local news. While the claims in the messages are allegations from private individuals who overheard Zack and Don at Dells, they underscore why some residents are calling for clearer lines between city government and the outlets that cover it—and why battles over information and accountability in small communities can quickly become personal.

“I mean it when I say “I have eyes and ears everywhere”….. It is emails like these that justify my political stance on the Fostoria Mayor. ”