Republican, Standard~Speaker to be sold to hedge fund
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - The Pottsville Republican-Herald offices on Mahantango Street in Pottsville.
POTTSVILLE – Times Shamrock Communications, owners of the Pottsville Republican-Herald and Hazleton Standard~Speaker, announced that those, and the rest of its papers, are being sold to a hedge fund.
The Scranton-based company announced the sale to MediaNews Group today, which includes the two local papers, the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice, Scranton Times-Tribune, and various weeklies in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area.
MediaNews Group is owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital and has a notorious reputation for buying and gutting local newspapers, including the Reading Eagle and Allentown Morning Call.
Some such newspapers have been referred to as “ghost newspapers,” as their news staff was whittled down to one, like the Pottstown Mercury.
The Times Shamrock papers discontinued Monday print editions in April, citing costs and against reader complaints.
In 2017, the Republican-Herald closed its office in downtown Shenandoah, leaving Shenandoah without a physical newspaper presence for the first time since 1870.
MediaNews Group owns one paper in Schuylkill County already, the weekly South Schuylkill News.
According to a statement released to WNEP-TV, the Lynett family, owners of the company, expressed dissatisfaction with the sale, saying “This was a transaction that we do not support or endorse. Alden does not reflect the business principles we feel are consistent with the stewardship of any newspaper.”
“The sale was driven by a majority of our shareholders. We understand the fears about our ability to remain competitive,” the Lynetts told WNEP. “We recognize the underlying concerns about the newspaper industry’s revenue and audience declines, and the desire of many of the shareholders to leave the painful decisions to cut costs, coverage and employees in someone else’s hands.”
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