By Gordon Joseloff
UPDATE Today’s final issue of the Minuteman newspaper. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The weekly Westport Minuteman newspaper died today. It would have had its 24th anniversary on Nov. 23.
The end came almost five months after it was purchased by Hearst Connecticut Media, owner of the Westport News and Fairfield Citizen-News, which also bought its sister newspaper, the Fairfield Minuteman.
Hearst’s holdings include other Connecticut weeklies as well as daily newspapers in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford, Danbury, and New Haven.
There was no farewell in its final issue, delivered free to most Westport addresses.
Instead inserted into the newspaper delivered today was a letter from Paul Barbetta, Westport News publisher, who made no direct mention of the Minuteman ceasing publication but proclaimed: “Dear Readers: We have great news!
“Beginning next week, we’ll be bringing you the best of local news, journalism, local school sports, and advertising information — right to your home.
“Instead of the Minuteman publications you normally received on Thursdays, every Friday you can expect to receive the Westport News — a highly respected newspaper dedicated to your community.”
No mention was made that current Westport News subscribers pay for their copies. Its website offers annual subscriptions for $50 plus a $7.95 “processing fee.”
A letter sent to Westport News subscribers arriving Friday informed customers that effective Friday, Nov. 3, the Westport News will become a free weekly delivered to their homes.
Subscribers were offered a refund for the term remaining or credit toward a subscription to a Hearst daily publication.
When the sale that included the Minuteman newspapers was announced June 5 (see WestportNow June 5, 2017), no price was disclosed. But the handwriting was on the wall that Hearst intended to kill off the rival Westport and Fairfield weeklies.
In the end, only one full-time staffer remained, Tom Henry, editor, and he was offered a position at other Hearst weeklies, according to a publishing source.
The Westport and Fairfield Minuteman newspapers were combined, and the Minuteman News Center website brought readers to the Hearst Fairfield Citizen-News site.
The end of the Minuteman newspapers was the latest consolidation in the local newspaper industry. Purchased by Hearst in 2008, the Westport News published twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays until 2013. But faced with cost cutting pressures and declining circulation, it reduced to Friday only publication.
Both the Westport News and Westport Minuteman do not have offices in Westport, having closed them some years ago.
The Minuteman newspapers began with an inaugural Westport issue on Nov. 23, 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. Hearst was the last in a succession of buyers.
This story has been updated with Hearst telling Westport News subscribers in a letter their newspaper will become a free weekly and offering a refund.
