New owners seek to revive Missouri newspapers sold by Gannett
When media giant Gannett wanted to sell the Lake Sun-Leader, a community newspaper with a 120-year history, Trevor Vernon decided it would fit in well with his family’s other publications.
Vernon Communications owns the Eldon Advertiser, the Hermitage Index and the Tipton Times.
“It makes sense,” Vernon said. “I own a newspaper on both sides of it. I was driving to Hickory County once a week already. It made sense for that to happen.”
The sale was announced in early August and is just one of a dozen titles shed by Gannett or its predecessor, GateHouse Media, from its Missouri newspapers. GateHouse merged with Gannett in 2019, taking the latter company’s name and forming a nationwide chain with more than 100 daily newspapers, including the flagship USA Today, 1,000 weekly papers, and numerous specialty publications.
At the time of the merger, GateHouse owned a dozen Missouri newspapers and Gannett owned one, the Springfield News-Leader. The biggest Missouri acquisition for GateHouse prior to the merger was the Columbia Daily Tribune, purchased in 2016 from the family that owned it for 115 years.
Read more: https://missouriindependent.com/2021/10/11/new-owners-seek-to-revive-missouri-newspapers-sold-by-gannett/