Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group is continuing its recent expansion in northern Indiana by purchasing the LaPorte County Herald-Argus from the Small Newspaper Group, an Illinois firm with no other papers in Indiana. (The selling firm's name comes from the family that owns it, not the size of its papers.)
Paxton already owned The News Dispatch of Michigan City, about 10 miles from LaPorte in northwestern Indiana's LaPorte County, population 104,000. The city of La Porte's population is 22,000, Michigan City's 33,000, but the La Porte paper has a larger circulation -- 12,488, to the Michigan City paper's 10,702. LaPorte is centrally located in the county, while Michigan City is on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Terms of the sale, which is expected to be effective Oct. 1, were not disclosed. It will be Paxton's third purchase of an Indiana newspaper in five months, giving it 11 papers in the state and 32 overall, with 370,000 circulation. It bought The Herald-Press of Huntington in April and the Chronicle-Tribune of Marion in July. Paxton owns seven dailies in North Carolina, four in Arkansas, three each in Georgia and Kentucky (including The Paducah Sun, where the family-owned chain started), and one each in Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee. Its Michigan newspaper is in St. Joseph, 40 miles up the lakeshore from Michigan City.
Paxton President and CEO David Paxton said the firm would combine "the strengths of the Herald-Argus with other Paxton newspapers in the area" to improve service. Officials of the Small group said "the sale was desirable to help the group make the transition in a multimedia age," The Herald-Argus reported. (Read more)
3 comments:
All is well and good that they are buying all these papers till they start shutting down presses and running them somewhere else. My husband and many others were told that they could apply at the other newspaper but were not guaranteed a job. They told them on Monday afternoon last day of running the paper from the location is Friday night. These people have families and many have no idea where there next paycheck will come from. In my opinion it was dirty. They bought the paper they are moving to this summer and they are closing the printing operation here without even two weeks notice which employees would have to give. The other thing about this situation is when the mandatory meeting took place they did not get anyone to come in and do sign language for employees that can't here. Being a family owned newspaper where are there values for family.
This is not a surprising development. Paxton recently stopped printing its Madisonville, Ky., daily, The Messenger, at its Owensboro paper, about 60 miles away.
My comment is simple, Paxton is a JOKE!! This company bought out the Herald Argus and within 30 days dismantled it.The corporate TOOLS they brought in to do their dirty work are a dime a dozen!We were told good changes are coming,I guess the unemployment line is what they spoke of.I also think if people could help it they should boycott companies like this. These are the types of companies that are ruining America! I hope Paxton has to sell out and David Paxton finds himself where he has left so many others, UNEMPLOYED!
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