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Local Media Group

From Alfawiki
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Local Media Group, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 25 July 2025
Local Media Group, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryNewspaper publishing
PredecessorDow Jones Local Media Group, Ottaway Newspapers Inc.
Founded1936
FounderJames H. Ottaway Sr.
Headquarters
Campbell Hall
,
United States
Area served
California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania
Key people
Robert James Thomson (CEO of News Corp at time of sale)
ProductsNewspapers, digital platforms, specialty publications
OwnerNewcastle Investment Corp. (linked to Fortress Investment Group)
ParentGateHouse Media (later New Media Investment Group, renamed Gannett)

Local Media Group, Inc., previously known as Dow Jones Local Media Group and Ottaway Newspapers Inc., managed a collection of newspapers, digital platforms, and specialty publications throughout California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Based in Campbell Hall, New York, its principal newspaper was the Times Herald-Record, which served the city of Middletown along with adjacent suburbs of New York City.

Established in 1936 by entrepreneur James H. Ottaway Sr., who owned the Endicott Daily Bulletin, the company expanded to encompass nine newspapers across the Northeastern United States by 1970. That same year, it was purchased by Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the The Wall Street Journal, and later became part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Following News Corporation’s division in 2013 into 21st Century Fox and News Corp, the Dow Jones Local Media Group was sold to Newcastle Investment Corp., linked to Fortress Investment Group. Its holdings were incorporated into the GateHouse Media network under New Media Investment Group, which was renamed Gannett after its acquisition in 2019.

Ottaway newspapers

The company was founded by James H. Ottaway Sr. in November 1936 when he acquired the Bulletin, a semi-weekly newspaper in Endicott, New York, transforming it into a daily publication within twelve months. The business expanded through purchases such as the Oneonta Star in 1944 and the Pocono Record two years thereafter.

During the 2000s, Ottaway shifted focus from growth to selling off assets. Industry experts and insiders—including those from the New York Post, The Boston Globe, and Ottaway's own Cape Cod Times—speculated that News Corporation intended to divest some or all of this division as part of a strategic overhaul.

Dow Jones Local Media Group

While under Dow Jones ownership, Ottaway sold several newspapers, notably divesting nearly half of its daily publications to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI) in December 2006 for $287.9 million, inclusive of real estate holdings.

Prior to this transaction, Ottaway's portfolio comprised daily and weekly newspapers such as:

In 2002, Ottaway sold four daily newspapers to CNHI for $182 million:

Additionally, three daily newspapers located in Essex County were sold in 2002 to The Eagle-Tribune based in North Andover, Massachusetts for $70 million. These titles subsequently became part of CNHI:

Sale to Newcastle

On September 4, 2013, Dow Jones Local Media Group was divested by News Corp to Newcastle Investment Corp., an entity linked to Fortress Investment Group, for a transaction valued at $87 million. Management of these newspapers was assigned to GateHouse Media, the newspaper division under Fortress. According to News Corp CEO and former Wall Street Journal editor Robert James Thomson, this disposition was consistent with the company’s shifting strategic focus.

To enable the purchase, GateHouse initiated a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on September 27, 2013, aimed at reorganizing its financial obligations. Following this, Newcastle combined Local Media Group with GateHouse Media post-bankruptcy, creating New Media Investment Group later in the same year.

Holdings by frequency of publication

Dow Jones Local Media Group comprised eight daily and 15 weekly newspapers distributed across seven states in the United States. In 2005, its circulation included approximately 282,000 daily copies, 316,000 on Sundays, and attracted about 119,000 unique daily visitors online.

The daily newspapers were:

Weekly and biweekly publications included:

Holdings by location

As of September 2013, following the divestiture by News Corporation of Dow Jones Local Media Group—subsequently renamed Local Media Group—the assets were integrated into GateHouse Media.

California
  • The Desert Dispatch, Barstow
  • The Record, Stockton
  • The Daily Press, Victorville
Massachusetts
  • The Advocate
  • Barnstable Patriot
  • Cape Cod Times
  • Cape Cod View
  • The Chronicle
  • The Fall River Spirit
  • The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket
  • Middleboro Gazette
  • Nantucket Today
  • New England Business Bulletin
  • The Spectator
  • The Standard-Times, New Bedford
New Hampshire
  • The Exeter News-Letter
  • Foster's Daily Democrat
  • The Hampton Union
  • The Portsmouth Herald
  • York County Coast Star
  • The York Weekly
New York
  • Limelight Deals, Middletown
  • Marketing Blacksmith, Middletown
  • Orange Magazine
  • Times Herald-Record, Middletown
Oregon
Pennsylvania
  • Pocono Record, Stroudsburg

Footnotes

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