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I can’t tell if this is a good sign or bad sign for Nevada’s largest newspaper.
It’s been just eight months since New Media Investment Group purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal from Stephens Media for $102 million and put Gatehouse Media in charge of operations.
Now, in a surprise announcement Thursday evening, we learn that News + Media Capital Group has bought the paper. It is described in the R-J story as “a newly formed Delaware-domiciled company backed by undisclosed financial backers with expertise in the media industry.'”
The sale includes the smaller publications in the Nevada group — Boulder City Review, Pahrump Valley Times, Tonopah Times Bonanza — as well as Las Vegas Business Press, Luxury Las Vegas Magazine, Best of Las Vegas and the lasvegas.com website.
All are members of the Nevada Press Association.
Gatehouse Media is to continue operating the paper, an arrangement described as a “possible new business model.”
There was immediate and wide speculation over the identity of the undisclosed “financial backers,” but no confirmation of who that might be.
One encouraging sign was the vow by Publisher Jason Taylor to continue to invest in journalism, including a new five-person investigative team.
“This town, this state, needs us to double down on content,” Taylor is quoted in the R-J article. “They need us to dig deeper. They need us to fight for them. They need us to find what’s wrong and expose it to make this a better place to live and raise a family. Everyone believes in it, and they believe in spending the money to make it happen.”
I agree wholeheartedly, and I also agree with the sentiments of Michael Schroeder, a News + Media manager, who said Las Vegas has “a lot of opportunity.”
So I’ll take it as a good sign, while I wait for the investigative reporters at the R-J to uncover who their new owners really are.