UPDATE Hearst, publisher of the Westport News, announced today it has acquired the Westport and Fairfield Minuteman.
Acquisition of the Westport newspaper was part of a deal in which Hearst said it had purchased three daily and eight weekly newspapers and their accompanying websites from Digital First Media, including the New Haven Register and Connecticut Magazine.
No sale price was disclosed, and it was not clear from the announcement whether the Minuteman, published Thursdays, would continue as a separate publication. A source at the newspaper said staffers have not been informed about the newspaper’s future.
The Minuteman published as usual on Thursday, but the issue made no mention of the sale of the newspaper.
The Minuteman newspapers began in 1993 when the late Lisa Connell, who had been let go as editor of the Westport News, enlisted investors to start a competitive paper, the Westport Minuteman. The Fairfield Minuteman followed.
Both papers were later sold. The Journal Register Company was the last in a succession of buyers.
The Westport News, published every Wednesday and Friday for almost half a century, ended its twice-weekly print run in July 2013 and now publishes only on Friday.
Started in 1964 by the late publisher B.V. (Dexter) Brooks, the Westport News has long served as the town’s paper of record, meaning that it is the journal in which municipal legal notices are posted. It closed its Westport office in 2009.
Today’s sale marks the second Connecticut acquisition in the past year for Hearst, which purchased The Hour of Norwalk in 2016. The first issue of The Hour was published May 6, 1871 in Westport, later relocating to Norwalk and commencing daily publishing in 1895 as the Evening Hour.
Hearst also owns the Connecticut Post, based in Bridgeport; The Advocate, of Stamford; Greenwich Time; and The News-Times, based in Danbury, in addition to six weekly newspapers in southwestern Connecticut.
In addition to the Westport News, they include the New Canaan News, Darien News, Wilton Villager, Fairfield Citizen and New Milford Spectrum.
The print and digital assets in the deal, which include The Register Citizen, of Torrington, and The Middletown Press, reach more than 470,000 households combined and 1.4 million unique online visitors, according to a news release.
They extend Hearst Connecticut Media Group’s news operations, advertising services and audience reach across New Haven, Middlesex and Litchfield counties.
“This investment strengthens Hearst Newspapers’ commitment to local communities in Connecticut, and expands Hearst’s local media presence to eight daily titles, 11 weeklies and a robust collection of digital outlets within the state,” Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam said.
Other weekly newspapers in the deal are the Post-Chronicle, covering Hamden and North Haven; the Milford-Orange Bulletin; the ShoreLine Times; The Dolphin, in Groton; the West Hartford News; The Foothills Trader, in Torrington, and The Litchfield County Times.
Hearst Newspapers now publishes 22 daily newspapers and 64 weeklies nationwide.
The New Haven Register, which dates to 1812, is by far the largest of the newly acquired publications. Formerly owned by the Jackson family, the paper was later owned by the Journal Register Co., which in 2011 teamed with MediaNews Group to form Digital First. MediaNews is itself a former owner of the Connecticut Post. Connecticut Magazine, based in New Haven, covers news around the state and dates to 1971.
Paul Barbetta, group publisher and president of Hearst Connecticut Media Group, will oversee business and news operations for the latest acquisitions.
“This will be an exciting time for all of us as we welcome our new colleagues and publications into our group,” Barbetta said. “Such an acquisition demonstrates our commitment to our brand and our company to readers, to advertisers and to the community.”
