, based in
Denver, Colorado , is one of the largest
Newspaper companies in the
United States . It is privately owned and operates 40
Daily Newspaper s in 9 states, with combined daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 1.7 million and 2.3 million, respectively. The company also owns
KTVA , a
CBS affiliate in
Anchorage, Alaska , and radio stations in
Texas .
The company's chairman is Gary Wright and its chief executive officer and vice chairman is founder
William Dean Singleton . The president is
Jody Lodovic .
Steven B. Rossi is executive vice president and chief operating officer.Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2006 .
Singleton founded MediaNews Group in 1983.
In August, 2006, the company took out around $350 million in loans to purchase four newspapers from ,
2006 . The loan was mostly used to help pay for the acquisition of two significant
San Francisco Bay Area newspapers (and some smaller papers), including the ''
San Jose Mercury News '' and the ''
Contra Costa Times '', the dominant papers in the
San Jose and
Contra Costa County, California markets; in total, the purchases amounted to roughly $737 million.
In
1995 MediaNews made its first foray into
New England , purchasing the
Berkshire Eagle and associated newspapers, including the
Vermont dailies ''
Brattleboro Reformer '' and ''
Bennington Banner ''Elfland, Mike. "Sentinel & Enterprise Sale Set," ''Telegram & Gazette'' (Worcester, Mass.),
January 8 ,
1997 . and
Connecticut daily ''
Middletown Press '', the last of which it sold soon after to
Journal Register Company ."Business Briefs," ''Union-News'' (Springfield, Mass.),
August 26 ,
1995
In the next two years, MediaNews expanded its footprint across Massachusetts' northern tier with its purchases of the ''
North Adams Transcript '' (
1996 ), ''
Sentinel & Enterprise '' in
Fitchburg (
1997 ) and ''
The Sun '' of
Lowell (also in
1997 )."Lowell Paper Sold," ''Telegram & Gazette'' (Worcester, Mass.),
July 9 ,
1997 . MediaNews also purchased the ''
Connecticut Post '' in
2000 , paying $203 million.Gatlin, Greg. "MediaNews Drops Bid." ''Boston Herald'',
August 9 ,
2000 .
MediaNews Group is known as a cost-cutter in the newspaper publishing industry. The company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area (examples include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area) and consolidating their operations, including sharing staff writers and printing facilities. As a result of the cost-cutting, according to an article in the '',
2006 . some former employees say that the newspapers are focused on making a profit to the detriment of good journalism.
On the other hand, Singleton is quick to point out that MediaNews is committed to print journalism, not diversification into other media. ''
The Berkshire Eagle '' editor David E. Scribner, two years after MediaNews bought his newspaper, said the staff respected Singleton despite layoffs because of his hands-on leadership and "traditional emphasis on good writing."
On ,
2007 . the parties announced Wednesday,
April 25 ,
2007 that a settlement had been reached.
1
Daily newspapers owned by MediaNews, alphabetically by state and hometown, are:
- Brooks Community Newspapers , publishing six weekly newspapers in Connecticut
- Gazette Newspapers , two Weekly Newspaper s in Long Beach, California
- The Greater New Milford Spectrum in New Milford, Connecticut
- Impacto USA , a Spanish-language newspaper in Long Beach, California
- Lake Country Newspapers , several weeklies in Texas
- Nashoba Publishing , several weekly newspapers in northern Massachusetts
- Silicon Valley Community Newspapers , nine weeklies near San Jose, California
- Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership , including two weeklies in New Mexico
Other MediaNews properties include:
