general an unrelated newspaper and tv group . medianews group former type private industry media successor digital first media founded 1983 defunct 2013 2013 headquarters 101 west colfax avenue 1 suite 1100 denver colorado 80202 united states key people richard scudder chairman 1985 2009 william dean singleton vice chair ceo jody lodovic president steven rossi coo products newspaper television website www.medianewsgroup.com medianews group based in denver colorado was one of the largest newspaper companies in the united states . it operated 56 daily newspapers in 12 states with combined daily and sunday circulation of approximately 2.4 million and 2.7 million respectively . 2 3 the company owned ktva a cbs affiliate in anchorage alaska from march 2000 to october 2012 and radio stations in texas . the company was founded by william dean singleton who served as ceo and richard scudder who served as chairman . in 2013 medianews group and 21st century media merged into digital first media . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 new england newspapers 2 corporate culture 3 antitrust allegations 4 newspapers 4.1 dailies 4.2 weekly newspapers 5 other properties 6 former properties 7 references 8 external links history edit medianews group was founded by richard scudder and william dean singleton in 1983 . 5 singleton was a pioneer in clustering developing groups of newspapers that centralized a variety of functions including production ad sales business operations and in some cases editorial . an example of this was the alameda newspaper group in suburban san francisco where in the mid 1990s a central newsroom in pleasanton california did all the copy editing layout and page makeup for five daily papers . 6 upon acquiring the diverse group of papers singleton consolidated several news sections such as sports and features to one local office away from the metropolitan area having a few reporters do the job of what had been many individuals . this subsequently gutted each newsroom leaving far less local news than before . he was also a pioneer at developing pooled asset partnerships . among the first were papers in california which included papers from gannett co. inc. stephens media group and medianews . singleton s company contributed los angeles daily news and the ang operation as well as other papers while stephens contributed papers such as the vallejo times herald and the inland valley daily bulletin of ontario . a year after forming the partnership the duo allowed gannett to enter with its contributions including the san bernardino sun and the marin independent journal . medianews has entered into similar partnerships in texas and pennsylvania with gannett and in colorado with the e.w. scripps company . in august 2006 the company took out around 350 million in loans to purchase four newspapers from mcclatchy company . among those providing the loan was the bill and melinda gates foundation . 7 the loan was mostly used to help pay for the acquisition of two significant san francisco bay area newspapers and some smaller papers including the san jose mercury news and the contra costa times the dominant papers in the san jose and contra costa county california markets ; in total the purchases amounted to roughly 737 million . hearst corporation owns 31 % of medianews publications outside the san francisco bay area . form 10 q in 2004 medianews group acquired the york daily record a 45 000 circulation morning paper in york pennsylvania . on january 16 2010 the associated press reported that affiliated media parent of medianews will file chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . under the plan company debt would fall to 165 million from about 930 million . senior lenders would swap debt for stock . it came out of bankruptcy in march 2010 under the majority ownership of its lenders . 8 the medianews creditors then removed media news president joseph lodovic and its chairman william dean singleton was reassigned to the position of executive chairman of the board . the singleton lodovic appointees to the medianews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by alden global capital a hedge fund firm which has acquired a large though not controlling stake . several interim executive positions were also filled by people related to alden or its parent smith management llc . 9 medianews became managed by journal register s digital first media . 10 new england newspapers edit in 1995 medianews made its first foray into new england purchasing the berkshire eagle and associated newspapers including the vermont dailies brattleboro reformer and bennington banner 11 and connecticut daily middletown press the last of which it sold soon after to journal register company . 12 in the next two years medianews expanded its footprint across massachusetts northern tier with its purchases of the north adams transcript 1996 sentinel & enterprise in fitchburg 1997 11 and the sun of lowell also in 1997 . 13 medianews also purchased the connecticut post in 2000 paying 203 million . 14 in 2007 medianews expanded in connecticut operating the stamford advocate and the greenwich time two dailies in lower fairfield county with a combined circulation of about 35 000 . the hearst corporation purchased the two papers from the tribune company and medianews operated them through an existing agreement between the two companies until august 2008 when hearst bought out medianews interest in the connecticut papers . the new england papers are owned by new england newspapers incorporated a solely owned subsidiary of medianews group . the subsidiary president is andrew h. mick . corporate culture edit medianews group is known as a cost cutter in the newspaper publishing industry . the company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area examples include los angeles and the san francisco bay area and consolidating their operations including sharing staff writers and printing facilities . as a result of the cost cutting according to an article in the los angeles times 15 some former employees say that the newspapers are focused on making a profit to the detriment of good journalism . on the other hand singleton is quick to point out that medianews is committed to print journalism not diversification into other media . the berkshire eagle editor david e. scribner two years after medianews bought his newspaper said the staff respected singleton despite layoffs because of his hands on leadership and traditional emphasis on good writing . 11 antitrust allegations edit on july 14 2006 san francisco businessman and real estate investor clint reilly filed a lawsuit against medianews group and san francisco chronicle parent hearst corporation alleging that the two companies have been conspiring to control advertising rates a violation of antitrust laws . in november 2006 reilly s attorney presented to u.s. district judge susan illston a letter from hearst senior vice president james asher to medianews president jody lodovic that said the two companies agreed to offer national advertising and internet advertising sales for their san francisco bay area newspapers on a joint basis and to consolidate the san francisco bay area distribution networks of such newspapers ... . illston suggesting she had been misled by the companies when they said they had not been collaborating issued a 14 page ruling 16 forbidding hearst and medianews from working together on national advertising sales or distribution . on december 21 2006 the san francisco bay guardian and nonprofit media alliance filed suit to make the details of reilly s lawsuit and medianews and the chronicle s response public . 17 as a result of the filing many documents in the case were voluntarily disclosed by the defendants . the judge allowed redacted versions of two more documents to be released . she kept 17 others under seal . one of the documents unsealed was the deposition of hearst s asher who says that as of september 2006 his company had recorded cumulative losses of 330 million on its investment in the chronicle 18 which it acquired in mid 2000 . he said hearst proposed selling the chronicle to medianews but medianews didn t offer enough money . asher also said hearst and medianews have discussed working together for years . although the trial was scheduled to start monday april 30 2007 in u.s. district court in san francisco 19 the parties announced wednesday april 25 2007 that a settlement had been reached . 20 newspapers edit dailies edit daily newspapers owned by medianews alphabetically by state and hometown include 21 kodiak daily mirror of kodiak alaska fairbanks daily news miner of fairbanks alaska alameda times star of alameda california the argus of fremont california chico enterprise record of chico california contra costa times of walnut creek california times standard of eureka california ft. bragg advocate news of fort bragg california daily review of hayward california lake county record bee of lakeport california long beach press telegram of long beach california milpitas post of milpitas california monterey county herald of monterey california the oakland tribune of oakland california inland valley daily bulletin of rancho cucamonga california oroville mercury register of oroville california pacifica tribune of pacifica california the daily news of palo alto california paradise post of paradise california pasadena star news of pasadena california tri valley herald of pleasanton california red bluff daily news of red bluff california redlands daily facts of redlands california the sun of san bernardino california san jose mercury news of san jose california san mateo county times of san mateo california marin independent journal of san rafael california santa cruz sentinel of santa cruz california the daily breeze of torrance california ukiah daily journal of ukiah california the reporter of vacaville california times herald of vallejo california san gabriel valley tribune of monrovia california whittier daily news of whittier california willits news of willits california daily democrat of woodland california los angeles daily news of woodland hills california camera of boulder colorado brush news tribune of brush colorado denver post of denver colorado fort morgan times of fort morgan colorado lamar daily news of lamar colorado journal advocate of sterling colorado sentinel & enterprise of fitchburg massachusetts the sun of lowell massachusetts north adams transcript of north adams massachusetts the berkshire eagle of pittsfield massachusetts the detroit news of detroit michigan st. paul pioneer press of st. paul minnesota the nashua broadcaster of nashua new hampshire alamogordo daily news of alamogordo new mexico current argus of carlsbad new mexico deming headlight of deming new mexico farmington daily times of farmington new mexico las cruces sun news of las cruces new mexico silver city sun news of silver city new mexico public opinion of chambersburg pennsylvania evening sun of hanover pennsylvania lebanon daily news of lebanon pennsylvania york daily record and sunday news of york pennsylvania el paso times of el paso texas the graham leader of graham texas park record of park city utah the salt lake tribune of salt lake city utah bennington banner of bennington vermont brattleboro reformer of brattleboro vermont weekly newspapers edit some of the weeklies owned by the company 22 brooks community newspapers publishing six weekly newspapers in connecticut gazette newspapers two weekly newspapers in long beach california the greater new milford spectrum in new milford connecticut impacto usa a spanish language newspaper in long beach california lake country newspapers several weeklies in texas mendocino beacon of mendocino california nashoba publishing several weekly newspapers in northern massachusetts silicon valley community newspapers nine weeklies near san jose california texas new mexico newspapers partnership including two weeklies in new mexico the beach reporter of hermosa beach california other properties edit other medianews properties include la.com a portal site based in los angeles california u entertainment of los angeles california woman magazine of norwalk connecticut former properties edit ktva television cbs affiliate in anchorage alaska march 2000 december 2012 now owned by gci company lake country radio stations now owned by palo pinto communications lp kwkq graham texas kswa graham texas klxk breckenridge texas kroo breckenridge texas