Newspaper ownership is shifting back toward local; regional and family-owned chains expand, buying from larger ones

Chart by Simran Pawani, Axios

"A group of regional newspaper chains and family-owned newspaper groups are beginning to buy back newspapers from major groups like Gannett, Alden Global Capital and Lee Enterprises, which are trying to reduce their footprints to save costs," reports Sara Fischer of Axios Media Trends. However, "The churn rates for papers sold to smaller groups, in some cases, remains high."

Fischer draws on the State of Local News 2022 report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. The report was authored by Penelope Muse Abernathy and Tim Franklin, with contributions from other writers.

Family-owned Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Ky., "has bought 60 papers in the past two and a half years, but also sold five and closed or merged 10," Fischer reports. "Ogden Newspapers, another family chain, has bought 28 in that time frame, but it's closed or merged 11."

Fischer notes, "In the past two years, roughly two-thirds of the 90 papers that newspaper giant Gannett has sold were bought by either Paxton or CherryRoad Media, a regional chain based out of New Jersey that was launched in 2020. Today, six of the 10 largest newspaper owners in the U.S. are regional chains, and half of those chains didn't exist a decade ago."

Gannett and other chains are expected to keep offloading newspapers. Abernathy and Franklin say most newspaper purchases are for between "two and six times cash flow, or approximately 10% to 30% of revenue if a property is unprofitable."