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SOLD!
$380
million
GateHouse Media Inc. announced
Tuesday it has signed a definitive stock and asset purchase agreement
to acquire The Repository and eight other publications from The Copley
Press. It most likely will not be until the end of April before the
sale is complete.
According to CantonRep.com,
Michael E. Reed, GateHouse Media's CEO said, “We are delighted
to add these superb publications to the GateHouse Media organization.
These businesses and their employees are a wonderful addition to our
company and we look forward to continuing the outstanding stewardship
of Copley Press, These newspapers are dominant local news providers
in the markets they serve, with a rich tradition of journalistic excellence
and local advertising reach, and therefore fit perfectly into the business
strategy of GateHouse Media. We are excited about this opportunity to
continue to accretively deploy capital in the local media sector.”
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GateHouse Media
www.gatehousemedia.com
Stock traded on New York Stock Exchange: GHS
Source: Company web site and MediaOwners.com
GateHouse
Media — formerly Liberty Group Publishing — is headquartered
in Fairport, N.Y., and owns more than 430 community publications in 18 states
across the country, with more than 230 related web sites reaching approximately
9 million people on a weekly basis. Holdings include 77 daily newspapers,
271 non-daily newspapers and 136 shoppers and other publications, in 17
states. GateHouse specializes in publications with daily circulation of
less than 20,000. |
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| Welcome
to
SavetheRep.org
This site has been
organized to publish information about the sale your local newspaper,
The Repository. |
How
does it affect you?
Who
has been affected already?
Why
should employees care?
How
can you help?
Community
comments |
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How
serious is the situation?
In the past five years, more than 44,000 news industry employees
have lost
their jobs. At least 34,000 of those employees worked at newspapers.
These aren’t just a few jobs here and there. The cutbacks
have been
widespread and deep nationwide. Take, for example, the 1,000-plus
jobs
hacked at the Chicago Tribune in the past two years or the situation
at the
San Jose Mercury News, where 17 percent of the newsroom staff was
eliminated.
It has even happened in our own back yard. Last year, the Akron
Beacon
Journal newsroom staff was slashed by 25 percent.
Why should you care?
Fewer journalists mean less news coverage. Less news coverage means
you will
be less informed. Without the quality news coverage The Repository
now
provides, you might miss out on what’s happening in your local
school
system, your neighborhoods and your local government. You may see
less
coverage of your local sports, the arts, area businesses and the
local economy.
Good journalism is essential to an informed community. Please join
us in
urging Copley Press to sell only to a buyer who will uphold the
standards of
quality journalism and its importance to a strong community.
For more on the state of the newspaper industry, visit the Newspaper
Guild’s
Web site: www.newsguild.org |
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