Independent Neighborhood News & Talking Points
27 Apr
The merry-go-round of owners for the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers continues this week, with the announcement that the SJ Mercury News will be sold to Denver-based MediaNews. For those of you keeping score at home, SVCN (the publisher of the Willow Glen Resident and its sister community newspapers) will be purchased as part of the complex transaction announced this week.
The deal is so big, that it’s hard to find a local independent newspaper to report on it. We’ll go with the excellent article by the un-affiliated Palo Alto Weekly:
The Mercury reported that the Daily News Group — a Bay Area chain of local tabloids that Knight Ridder purchased a year ago that includes the Palo Alto Daily News and four sister papers — and the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers will also go to MediaNews. The fate of the smaller newspapers had not been included in the corporations’ official announcement of the deal.
Staff at SVCN have said all along that these changes will not affect the publication and editorial standards of the community newspapers. Let’s hope that’s still true.
4 Responses for "WG Resident Sold Again"
[...] These sister papers often “share” stories when the articles transcend geographic description, or include citizens and business that cover more than one segment of the paper. With the recent acquisition of SVCN by Knight-Ridder, this excellent practice now results in local reporters getting called up to the majors. [...]
The San Jose Business Journal is reporting today that the “U.S. Department of Justice has asked for more information on the sale of two California newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News.”
The eventual sale of the SJ Mercury News (and by association the WG Resident) is may not really be in question, but a lawsuit objecting to the purchase by MediaNews is working its way through the courts …
The Metro’s SV411.com weblog provides a small update this week: “Sunshine on Merc Merger“:
Not really related to the WG Resident, but our beloved neighborhood weekly recently added two new sisters …
The “Winchester Resident” begins publication as the tenth paper in the SVCN chain …
And MediaNews, the big parent company of every paper you can read, has added the Santa Cruz Sentinel to its fold. From the SJ/SV Business Journal … “MediaNews buys Santa Cruz Sentinal“
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