About Mid Bay News For Niceville, Eglin, and Valparaiso

The Origins of Mid Bay News

So, a little about Mid Bay News. Christopher Saul started his first digital media news outlet as a fourth-grader with a couple of his friends in 2002.

More than a couple of things have changed since Lynch Bunch News started (named after the 4th grade teacher), but making sure people have easy access to information that affects their lives is still a passion for Christopher – and now the rest of the Saul Family.

After the closure of the Bay Beacon newspaper, the Sauls realized that there needed to be a local Newspaper for Niceville Fl. It needed to include Eglin AFB news, Niceville news and Valparaiso news.

That’s when they made the decision to build a local news outlet – Mid Bay News was born!

The Sauls live in Niceville and want to ensure that it continues on its positive trajectory, so that it can become a dynamic community with a wealth of opportunities for people of all interests.

The Mid Bay News Team

Christopher Saul

Publisher

Christopher Saul is the Publisher of Mid Bay News. Click for more. He started Mid Bay News in 2022.

Collin Bestor

Reporter

Collin Bestor is a Reporter at Mid Bay News. He joined the team in May, 2025.

Steven Saul

Reporter

Steven Saul is a Reporter at Mid Bay News. He joined the team in December of 2024.

Brennan Saul

Chief of Mobility

Brennan Saul Manages the iOS App for Mid Bay News. He joined the team in 2022.

Gehrig Gesch

Sports Intern

Gehrig Gesch is a sports intern at Mid Bay News. He is a rising Junior at Auburn University.

The Mid Bay News Mission Statement

“To create more informed and active community members who work together to make our home a better place.”

We believe that by giving you critical facts about decisions you face, elections you will vote in and places you donate time and money to – we can work together efficiently to make our home the best place possible for ourselves and our children!

Our Vision for the Mid Bay Area

Our Vision For The Emerald Coast

“A stronger, more united Emerald Coast that is economically vibrant and diverse, welcoming, and resilient. “

“A politically consolidated Mid Bay area which promotes arts and the creative trades as the third leg of the economic stool of the area. We will help to create a strong metropolitan area to negotiate for funding and resources from the State Government of Florida.”

We believe the character of the Mid Bay area of Niceville, Valparaiso, Bluewater Bay and Eglin Air Force Base is something special that is worth growing and making a beacon for other areas to emulate. In order to make our area the best that it can be – it needs to have an outlet that gives people the right information so they can make the best possible decisions for our home.

By supplying this information – we do our part to make the Mid Bay area the best possible place it can be.

Our Values

Curiosity: We ask questions.

Truth: We seek it and defend it.

Progress: We want our community to become a better place.

Quotes Which Inspire Us

"As a journalistic stance, neutrality is worthless, and usually spurious, because everyone is a partisan of some kind. Objectivity is different: the necessary effort, always doomed to fall short, of rendering reality exactly, like a carpenter striving for plumb, level and square. What's most crucial is independence: refusing to surrender your judgment of the truth for the sake of a political cause. Journalism doesn't require an anesthetized moral faculty."

George Packer, Journalist

"Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs."

Válclav Havel, 1st Prime Minister of Czechia

"We need media that can help people, especially the young, to distinguish good from evil, to develop sound judgments based on a clear and unbiased presentation of the facts, and to understand the importance of working for justice, social concord and respect for our common home."

Pope Francis

“Why, America’s the only free nation on earth. Besides! Country’s too big for a revolution. No, no! Couldn’t happen here!”

Sinclair Lewis, Writer

"Silence Never Moved the Needle."

Lt. Colonel Kelly Vail, United States Air Force

The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart, and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues until they get a positive result. And even then, [they] have to stay on to make sure that result holds. So, the good news is I'm not saying you don't have to worry about who wins the election. I'm saying you have to worry about every day before it and every day after forever.

Jon Stewart, Satirist

“Yeah,” I said, “I heard the speech. But they don’t give a damn about that. Hell, make ’em cry, make ’em laugh, make ’em think you’re their weak erring pal, or make ’em think you’re God-Almighty. Or make ’em mad. Even mad at you. Just stir ’em up, it doesn’t matter how or why, and they’ll love you and come back for more. Pinch ’em in the soft place. They aren’t alive, most of ’em, and haven’t been alive in twenty years. Hell, their wives have lost their teeth and their shape, and likker won’t set on their stomachs, and they don’t believe in God, so it’s up to you to give ’em something to stir ’em up and make ’em feel alive again. Just for half an hour. That’s what they come for. Tell ’em anything. But for Sweet Jesus’ sake don’t try to improve their minds.”

Robert Penn Warren

"I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end."

Stan Lee

"Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

Muhammed Ali

"Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal. I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library. Line up to the mind cemetery now. What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and movin'. They don't gotta burn the books they just remove 'em. While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells. Rally 'round the family, pockets full of shells"

Zach De La Rocha

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

Oscar Wilde, Writer