News Media Corporation Sells Oregon Cluster To Country Media, Inc
News Media Corporation has sold its Oregon cluster of newspapers to Country Media, Inc. The sale included the Newport News Times, Newport, Oregon, the Siuslaw News, Florence, Oregon, and the Cottage Grove Sentinel, Cottage Grove, Oregon.
John Cribb, of Cribb Cope & Potts represented the Tompkins family and News Media Corporation in the sale. Terms were not disclosed. JJ Tompkins, CEO of News Media Corporation, said it was important his family’s company found the right company to sell their Oregon newspapers to.
“News Media Corporation is proud of its 20 plus years doing business in Oregon,” Tompkins, said. “It has been a successful run and would not have been possible without the many dedicated employees who have worked at these offices. We are so grateful for them.”
“When we listed this group it was important to us to find a company with ties to the coast,” Tompkins added. “We couldn’t be more pleased that Steve and Carol Hungerford of Country Media are the new owners. We know they are committed to local journalism. They have more people and more resources to make these individual publications even stronger.”
Said Country Media president Steve Hungerford, “As a media company with paid-circulation newspapers in seven Oregon communities, we know first-hand the value these three newspapers and digital sites bring to their readers. “It’s a privilege to continue News Media’s legacy of local news coverage in dynamic, smaller communities.”
The Tompkins family and News Media Corporation were represented by John Cribb of Cribb, Cope & Potts. CCP is a leading merger and acquisition firm with offices in Montana, California and Arkansas
MediaNews Group Acquires Times-Shamrock Communications Newspapers
Unhappy family issues statement
Times-Shamrock Communications is selling its newspaper group, including The Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune, to MediaNews Group effective Thursday, CEO Jim Lewandowski announced. The Times-Shamrock family of newspapers reaches a combined readership of more than a million in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Dirks, Van Essen & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented Times-Shamrock Communications in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.
The sale, announced during an all-staff Zoom meeting, includes the company’s four daily newspapers — The Times-Tribune, The Citizens’ Voice, The Republican Herald and The Standard Speaker — as well as its weekly and periodic newspapers, commercial printing operations, Absolute Distribution Inc. and Times-Shamrock Creative Services.
It does not include the Times-Shamrock’s radio or billboard operations, or the Scranton Times Building.
Meta Rejects Bid By Canada To ‘Clarify’ Online News Act
Canada has issued draft regulations that would require Google to offer $172 million and Facebook $62 million per year to compensate publishers for using their content, as required by the Online News Act (C-18).This would seem to address fears of uncapped liability. But Meta has rejected this “clarification” and continues to block news content in reaction to the law.
“As the legislation is based on the incorrect assertion that Meta benefits unfairly from the news content shared on our platforms, today’s proposed regulations will not impact our business decision to end news availability in Canada,” says Rachel Curran, head of public policy at Meta Canada.
However, the Trudeau government says it is merely trying to level the playing field. “The goal of it is to make sure that those that benefit the most from the Canadian market fall under the bill,” said Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge to reporters on Friday.
The act applies to companies with annual global revenue of $1 billion that have 20 million average unique visitors per month in the country, according to CBC.
The tech giants argue that they help local news publishers by linking to their content. (They could also point out that many news sites they link to have paywalls and thus have a form of compensation).
The law takes effect next year, and Google has also said it will block news content. Meta started doing so earlier this month.
In response to Meta’s action, the federal government pulled $10 million in annual advertising from Meta’s platforms. News and telecommunications businesses Quebecor, Bell Media, Torstar Corp., Cogeco, and Postmedia Network Canada Corp. also withdrew advertising.
Wick Communications To Acquire Flagstaff’s Arizona Daily Sun
Sierra Vista-based Wick Communications will acquire the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff in a move that strengthens the company’s holdings in Arizona. The company is acquiring the Daily Sun from Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, Inc.
Wick Communications, a third-generation family-owned and operated media corporation, owns 21 newspaper titles throughout 10 Western states from Alaska to Louisiana. Wick owns seven newspapers in Arizona and holds half ownership in four others in the state as a partner in River City Newspapers. The announcement was made Tuesday in Flagstaff by Wick CEO Francis Wick, a fourth-generation Arizonian, and Daily Sun Publisher Colleen Brady.
“The Daily Sun and the Flagstaff community represent some of the best qualities of Arizona. We’re honored to be carrying on the strong legacy of this important community institution in the state we call home,” Wick said.Brady will remain publisher, and all employees of the Daily Sun have been offered positions with Wick Communications. “We are very excited about joining the Wick Communications team. This will give us the ability to continue to invest in more local news for our readers and offer media solutions to our advertisers,” Brady said.
The Arizona Daily Sun, the largest newspaper in Northern Arizona, originated in 1883 under the name Arizona Champion in Peach Springs. It was moved to Flagstaff in 1891 as the Coconino Sun and was renamed Arizona Daily Sun in 1946.
The Daily Sun was part of Scripps League Newspapers until 1996, when the company was purchased by Pulitzer. Lee Enterprises acquired Pulitzer in 2005. Today the publication reaches hundreds of thousands of people every month through its website, apps, newsletters and specialty publications.
An agreement to purchase the newspaper was signed Aug. 31, and the acquisition is planned to be final on Sept. 25.