In 1867, he was appointed as editor of the Potteries Examiner and Workman's Advocate, the journal of the United Branches of Operative Potters, a local trade union.
He tried to turn the publication into a more general labour movement newspaper, printing articles about developments in other trades, national and international news, and even works of literature.
[1] Owen followed his father in promoting trade unionism, and supported A. J. Mundella's efforts to set up industrial arbitration boards.
He devoted much of the early 1870s attempting to form an international union for pottery workers, although this attracted little interest outside the local area.
However, circulation gradually fell; in 1877, all the publications were consolidated into the Midland Examiner and Wolverhampton Times, promoting more orthodox liberal politics, and this closed two years later.