News-media roundup: Brehm Communications sells 18 papers; Knight puts $4.75M into Institute for Nonprofit News

Brehm Communications of San Diego is selling a daily newspaper and 17 weeklies. River City Newspapers of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., is buying the Mohave Valley Daily News in Bullhead City, and three weeklies: the Wickenburg Sun, the Laughlin Times and the Needles Desert Star, along with associated shopper publications. In a separate transaction, River City is buying the Kingman Miner and the a printing plant in Golden Valley from Prescott-based Western News&Info. A news release said River City is a 27-year-old alliance of Western News&Info and Wick Communications.

Gold Mountain California News Media is buying 11 Brehm papers, six north of Sacramento and five in the San Bernardino Mountains and adjacent high desert. The Northern California papers are the weekly Folsom Telegraph, Roseville Press-Tribune, Placer Herald, Lincoln News Messenger, The Loomis News and the twice-weekly Auburn Journal. The southern group is the Big Bear Grizzly, the Lake Arrowhead Mountain News, The Hi-Desert Star, The Desert Trail and The Desert Mobile Home News. A press release said Gold Mountain has papers "throughout the U.S. and Canada, including several in California," including the Marysville Appeal-Democrat, the Lodi News-Sentinel and the recently acquired Grass Valley Union, near Auburn.

CherryRoad Media is buying three Utah weeklies from Brehm: The Richfield Reaper, The Vernal Express and the Uintah Basin Standard. The purchase gives CherryRoad properties in 12 states, according to a news release from Dirks, Van Essen & April, which brokered all three deals, terms of which were not disclosed. "CherryRoad Media has been among the most acquisition-minded companies during the past two years," the release says. "The company believes the newspaper is an essential resource for developing strong communities, and that it can leverage technology to supplement the printed newspaper with enhanced digital capabilities."

Money for nonprofit news: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will invest $4.75 million in the next three years to catalyze the growth of the Institute for Nonprofit News Network. INN will use the funds to help the network expand from more than 400 newsrooms to at least 600 by 2026, and grow revenue from more than $400 million to $1 billion annually. “INN is committed to multiplying every dollar of this funding from Knight into greater growth for our members, providing services that allow them to invest even more in great reporting and building new models of community support for journalism,” said Sue Cross, INN’s executive director and CEO.

The grant will help expand opportunities for collaborative reporting and collective fundraising; help members diversify their funding; and "build a talent pool and pipeline in nonprofit news that centers diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially in leadership positions on the editorial and business side," a news release said. It quoted Karen Rundlet, a Knight Foundation journalism officer: “INN provides strategic support for the growth of nonprofit news, which is starting to fill some of the holes left by the collapse of the newspaper industry, while also serving communities that never previously received the type of coverage they deserve.”