publishing company . for the african american media organization see historical black press foundation . black press group ltd. type private industry newspapers founded 1975 headquarters 818 broughton street victoria british columbia canada area served alberta british columbia hawaii ohio and washington state key people david holmes black ceo rick o connor coo products akron beacon journal honolulu star advertiser five other daily newspapers and more than 100 weekly newspapers parent david holmes black 80 % torstar 20 % subsidiaries oahu publishing company sound publications website www.blackpress.ca black press group ltd. is a canadian privately owned publisher of prominent daily newspapers in hawaii and ohio united states and numerous non daily newspapers in alberta and british columbia canada and the u.s. state of washington . black press is headquartered in victoria british columbia . it is currently administered and majority owned by david holmes black no relation to canadian born media mogul conrad black . the company is 20 % owned by torstar publisher of the toronto star and david black s former employer . contents 1 history 2 daily newspapers 2.1 major dailies 2.2 community dailies 2.3 defunct dailies 3 community newspapers 3.1 alberta 3.2 british columbia 3.3 hawaii and california 3.4 washington 4 online classifieds 4.1 used.ca 5 controversies 5.1 nisga a treaty editorials 5.2 advertiser concerns 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit after working as a junior business analyst for the toronto star black purchased the williams lake tribune of williams lake british columbia from his father alan in 1975 . he bought a family run newspaper in nearby ashcroft in 1979 and his holdings expanded exponentially in the ensuing years . 1 there was never a big plan to get big . it s just that another opportunity would come over the hill . usually an independent would phone wanting to retire or sell out asking if we were interested in buying them . 1 david black though black press has focused its acquisitions mainly on building a province wide network of community newspapers in british columbia and a similar operation called sound publishing across the border in washington the company has also invested in individual marquee daily products . in 2000 black purchased the honolulu star bulletin of hawaii 1 later merged with the competing honolulu advertiser which black bought in 2010 . in 2006 the company acquired the akron beacon journal the former knight ridder flagship in northeast ohio . on june 27 2007 black press announced a 405 million takeover offer for osprey media putting it in competition with quebecor media for osprey s assets . quebecor subsequently put in a higher bid and won ownership of osprey . in 2011 david black was one of several newspaper industry veterans who joined together as investors in the san francisco newspaper company to buy the former hearst flagship the san francisco examiner now a free daily newspaper . although the transaction was initially reported as a purchase for black press david black participated as a private investor and holds his shares in the examiner separately from black press . 2 in 2013 black press and glacier media inc. exchanged four community newspapers in british columbia . that led to the closure of abbotsford times . in 2014 black press negotiated deals with glacier media inc. to take effect in march 2015 that would exchange a dozen british columbia newspapers that consolidated ownership of competing community papers on vancouver island and the lower mainland . black press obtained harbour city star cowichan citizen parksville oceanside star tofino ucluelet westerly news comox valley echo campbell river courier surrey now and langley advance . 3 daily newspapers edit black press owns three major metropolitan daily newspapers in the united states and several dailies as part of its community newspaper chains in the canadian and u.s. pacific northwest . major dailies edit akron beacon journal of akron ohio honolulu star advertiser of honolulu hawaii the herald of everett washington community dailies edit this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . may 2013 cranbrook daily townsman of cranbrook british columbia part of bc interior division kimberley daily bulletin of kimberley british columbia part of bc interior division peninsula daily news of port angeles washington part of sound publishing red deer advocate of red deer alberta flagship of the prairie division trail daily times of trail british columbia part of bc interior division the garden island of lihue hawaii part o ahu publications incorporated maple ridge news british columbia defunct dailies edit honolulu advertiser purchased february 2010 merged four months later into star advertiser 4 honolulu star bulletin purchased 2001 merged with advertiser in 2010 4 king county journal of kent washington purchased november 2006 closed two months later 5 nelson daily news of nelson british columbia purchased july 2010 closed two weeks later 6 prince rupert daily news of prince rupert british columbia purchased july 2010 closed two weeks later 6 community newspapers edit black press is the largest publisher of newspapers in british columbia 7 and in washington state . 1 it also owns several weeklies associated with its daily properties in alberta and hawaii . alberta edit black press owns the daily red deer advocate and several neighboring weekly newspapers in central alberta in addition to various local tourism and lifestyle publications . newspapers in black s prairie division are 8 bashaw star castor advance eckville echo ponoka news red deer advocate red deer express rimbey review stettler independent sylvan lake news british columbia edit black s original acquisitions form the core of the 320 552 circulation bc interior division whose holdings extend 1 360 km from trail near the washington border to smithers near the southern tip of alaska . the wine country publications grapes to wine and wine trails are also part of this group . following is a list of the group s community newspapers most of which are biweekly weekly semiweekly or thrice weekly although the group also includes three small daily newspapers in trail cranbrook and kimberley 9 100 mile house free press arrow lakes news ashcroft cache creek journal barriere star journal boundary creek times burns lake lakes district news caledonia courier cariboo advisor castlegar news clearwater times coast mountain news cranbrook daily townsman creston valley advance eagle valley news the free press golden star grand forks gazette houston today invermere valley echo kamloops this week kelowna capital news keremeos review kimberley daily bulletin kitimat northern sentinel kootenay news advertiser lake country calendar lakeshore news merritt herald nelson star the northern view penticton western news prince george free press quesnel cariboo observer revelstoke times review rossland news salmon arm observer similkameen spotlight smithers interior news summerland review terrace standard trail daily times the valley vanderhoof omineca express vernon morning star west kootenay advertiser williams lake tribune publications in black s bc lower mainland division circulate a total of 568 200 copies per week in the vancouver area . this group includes the chilliwack progress founded in 1891 which claims to be the oldest canadian community newspaper continuously published under the same name . the group includes the lifestyle and real estate publications indulge magazine new home living new local home north shore real estate and the following community newspapers 10 abbotsford news agassiz harrison observer aldergrove star bowen island undercurrent chilliwack progress chilliwack times cloverdale reporter hope standard langley times langley advance maple ridge times maple ridge pitt meadows news mission city record north shore outlook outlook north vancouver outlook west vancouver peace arch news richmond review surrey north delta leader surrey now westender vancouver the bc vancouver island division includes the entertainment weekly where magazine and real estate victoria both covering victoria british columbia and vicinity and the following community newspapers including the daily alberni valley times and nanaimo daily news 11 alberni valley news alberni valley times campbell river mirror comox valley echo comox valley record cowichan news leader pictorial cowichan valley citizen goldstream news gazette gulf islands driftwood ladysmith chronicle lake cowichan gazette monday magazine nanaimo daily news nanaimo news bulletin north island gazette north island midweek oak bay news parksville qualicum beach news peninsula news review saanich news sooke news mirror victoria news hawaii and california edit in addition to the honolulu star advertiser the largest daily newspaper in hawaii black press subsidiary oahu publishing inc. also community newspapers the entertainment weekly midweek hiluxury magazine and prints military newspapers for u.s. bases in hawaii . oahu publishing took full ownership of the san francisco media company in 2014 . the garden island hawaii army weekly hawaii marine hawaii tribune herald ho okele pearl harbor hickam news honolulu star advertiser midweek the san francisco examiner sf weekly west hawaii today washington edit sound publishing inc. a subsidiary of black press based in everett washington is the largest community news publisher by circulation in the state of washington . 12 the company s holdings include four daily newspapers the herald the peninsula daily news the daily world as well as the tacoma daily index government listings publication . all of sound publishing s products are printed at a central press plant in everett washington . community newspapers owned by sound publishing are 13 king county and pierce county auburn reporter bellevue reporter bothell kenmore reporter the courier herald covington maple valley & black diamond reporter eastside scene magazine federal way mirror issaquah sammamish reporter kent reporter kirkland reporter mercer island reporter redmond reporter renton reporter seattle weekly snoqualmie valley record tukwila reporter tacoma daily index vashon maury island beachcomber grays harbor county the aberdeen daily world the vidette north coast news south beach bulletin okanogan county okanogan valley gazette tribune olympic and kitsap peninsulas bainbridge island review bremerton patriot central kitsap reporter kitsap military times kingston community news north kitsap herald peninsula daily news port orchard independent sequim gazette forks forum san juan islands islands sounder islands weekly journal of the san juan islands snohomish county arlington times the everett herald marysville globe whidbey island south whidbey record whidbey crosswind whidbey examiner whidbey news times online classifieds edit used.ca edit in 2007 14 the black press purchased used.ca 15 a canadian online classified website with popular sites in victoria b.c. p.e.i and ottawa on . controversies edit nisga a treaty editorials edit in 1998 company owner david black instructed his british columbia papers to publish a series of editorials opposing the nisga a treaty which was the first modern treaty in b.c. history and not to publish editorials in favour of the treaty . in january 1999 the ndp government filed a complaint to the b.c. press council against black press arguing that its policy breached its duty to act in the public interest and violated the council s constitution . black press said that news coverage was not affected and editors were free to publish their opinions on their letters page . the press council sided with black press based on finding that its newspapers did in fact carry a diversity of opinion on the nisga a treaty including those of premier glen clark liberal leader gordon campbell reform party president bill vander zalm as well as those of ordinary british columbians . 16 advertiser concerns edit in august 2007 a story in the victoria news sparked a complaint from an advertiser and led to the firing resignation of three senior black press employees . victoria news reporter brennan clarke quit the publication after a story he wrote about buying cheaper cars in the united states led to a complaint from victoria car dealership dave wheaton pontiac buick gmc . black press claimed the article was not balanced and said that reporters and editors should not purposely jeopardize advertising revenue with their stories because that revenue pays their salaries . the company also fired the victoria news long time editor keith norbury in part because of the complaint and black press s vancouver island newsgroup regional editor brian lepine