Pulitzer Inc. Sells Its Newspapers to Lee Enterprises, Now 4th Largest Pub

[Tsiyu]

Pulitzer Inc. Sells Its Newspapers to Lee Enterprises, Creating Nation's Fourth-Largest Newspaper Publisher
The Associated Press
Published: Jan 31, 2005



ST. LOUIS (AP) - Lee Enterprises Inc. has bought Pulitzer Inc.'s newspaper holdings, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a $1.46 billion deal that creates the nation's fourth-largest newspaper publisher, both companies announced Sunday.
Lee, which operates 44 daily newspapers, will pay $64 per share in cash for all of Pulitzer's holdings, which include 14 daily newspapers.

The purchase is a continuation of Lee's long-term strategies, said Mary Junck, chairman and chief executive officer.

"The acquisition of Pulitzer allows us to take an exciting and logical next step into another exceptionally attractive group of markets, exactly the kind where we excel as an industry leader in building revenue and circulation," she said.

The acquisition will make the Lee chain fourth in numbers of U.S. daily newspapers and seventh in circulation with 58 daily newspapers in 23 states and a circulation of 1.7 million daily and 2 million on Sundays, the company said.

more:

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBYO3S9M4E.html

[merwin]

1. How many years until Murdoch buys them out?

Creating one huge company of... truth!

[aikido15]

3. This explains all the changes...

In our paper in St. Louis. A bunch of new commentary writers..and a new section, "Right Talk" which I have already written and complained about!

[Liberty Belle]

8. Ugh...that's just what I was afraid of.

[Liberty Belle]

2. Is Lee conservative? Here's a list of Lee newspapers,

before the merger:

Daily Newspapers


Capital Newspapers Group**
Wisconsin State Journal
and The Capital Times Madison, WI
112,450

152,943


Daily Citizen Beaver Dam, WI 10,621
—

Portage Daily Register Portage, WI 5,221
—

Baraboo News Republic Baraboo, WI 4,257
—

North County Times Oceanside and
Escondido, CA 93,051
97,204


The Times Munster, IN 86,933
93,463

Lincoln Group
Lincoln Journal Star Lincoln, NE 74,893
84,149

Columbus Telegram Columbus, NE 9,394
10,300

Fremont Tribune Fremont, NE 8,187
—

Beatrice Daily Sun Beatrice, NE 8,065
—

Quad-Cities Group
Quad-City Times Davenport, IA 53,067
72,168

Muscatine Journal Muscatine, IA 8,106
—

Billings Gazette Billings, MT 47,105
52,434

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier Waterloo, IA 41,753
51,836

Sioux City Journal Sioux City, IA 41,182
42,268

Central Illinois Group
Herald & Review Decatur, IL 35,579
42,357

Journal Gazette Mattoon, IL 10,962
—

Times-Courier Charleston, IL 6,980
—

River Valley Group
La Crosse Tribune La Crosse, WI 33,057
41,432

Winona Daily News Winona, MN 11,535
12,956

The Post-Star Glens Falls, NY 34,447
37,550

Casper Star-Tribune Casper, WY 30,790
33,289

Missoula Group
Missoulian Missoula, MT 30,466
34,855

Ravalli Republic Hamilton, MT 4,983
—

Rapid City Journal Rapid City, SD 29,696
34,222

The Journal Times Racine, WI 28,934
30,909

The Southern Illinoisan Carbondale, IL 27,671
36,014

The Bismarck Tribune Bismarck, ND 27,620
31,081

Twin Falls Group
The Times-News Twin Falls, ID 21,440
21,480

South Idaho Press Burley, ID 3,555
3,450

Elko Daily Free Press Elko, NV 6,109
—

The Daily News Longview, WA 21,257
20,895

Globe Gazette Mason City, IA 18,963
23,311

The Times and Democrat Orangeburg, SC 17,947
17,712

Mid-Valley Group
Democrat-Herald Albany, OR 17,702
17,630

Corvallis Gazette-Times Corvallis, OR 11,999
12,195

The Sentinel Carlisle, PA 14,543
15,037

Independent Record Helena, MT 14,254
14,788

The Montana Standard Butte, MT 13,943
14,135

The Citizen Auburn, NY 12,546
14,241

The Ledger Independent Maysville, KY 8,805
—

The Chippewa Herald Chippewa Falls, WI 6,924
7,006

Shawano Leader** Shawano, WI 6,291
6,732

Total circulation:
1,113,283
1,180,042


*
9/30/04 Audit Bureau of Circulations Publisher Statements or company records
**
Published by Madison Newspapers, Inc.; doing business as Capital Newspapers, which Lee owns jointly with The Capital Times Co.


Other Publications and Operations

CALIFORNIA
OCEANSIDE/ESCONDIDO – Coupon Clipper, 56,500 monthly; Oceanside Magazine, 85,500 quarterly; Super Savers, 190,000 weekly.

IDAHO
TWIN FALLS – Ag Weekly, 15,000 Sat., with distribution expanding to 33,000 once a month; Dairy Monthly, 15,500; Horse Quarterly, 15,500; Cattle Country, 15,500 quarterly; Magic Values Shopper & Auto Trader, 22,000 weekly; Southern Idaho Business, 6,700 monthly; TV Weekly, 26,500.
TWIN FALLS REGION – Minidoka County News, Rupert, 1,000; Wood River Journal, 12,000, and Wood River Journal Dining Guide, Hailey; The Gooding County Leader, Gooding, 1,600; Northside News, Jerome, 1,600; Lincoln County Journal, Shoshone, 1,000; Super Tuesday, Burley.

ILLINOIS
CARBONDALE – Flipside, 32,000 Thurs.; Southern Business Journal, 8,300 monthly; SI Real Estate, 10,000 monthly; At Home With Flipside, 35,100 Tues.; Wheels and Deals For You, 5,000 bi-weekly.
DECATUR – Business Journal, 8,300 monthly; Homes, 18,100 monthly; Limited Edition, 9,000 quarterly; Prairie Shopper, 27,300 Tues.

IOWA
CEDAR RAPIDS – Iowa Farmer Today, 73,500 weekly.
DAVENPORT/QUAD-CITIES – Bettendorf News, 10,000 Thurs.; On the River, 47,000 monthly; Quad-City Advertiser, 23,000 Wed.; Quad-City Business Journal, 9,000 monthly; Wheels For You, 14,000 bi-weekly; Thrifty Nickel, 15,200 Thurs.; Wheels For You, 14,000 bi-weekly; Work For You, 3,000 Tues.; On the River, monthly; Your Mom, monthly. Winc, quarterly.
MUSCATINE – Classic Images, 5,700 monthly; Films of the Golden Age, 6,500 quarterly; The Post, 20,500 Tues.; Sunday Express, 4,200 Sun.
MASON CITY REGION – Business Journal, 3,000 monthly; Globe Advertiser, 4,300 Tues.; Mason City Shopper, 28,200 Tues.; North Iowa Women, 5,000 bi-monthly; Prime Time, 10,000 quarterly; Real Estate Extra, 12,000 monthly; Wheels For You, 8,000 bi-weekly; Britt News-Tribune, 1,400 Wed.; Forest City Summit, 2,700 Wed.; Winnebago/ Hancock Shopper, Forest City, 10,000 Tues. Mitchell County Press-News, Osage, 3,200 Wed.; Town & Country Shopper, Osage, 3,300 Wed.
SIOUX CITY — Siouxland Weekly Shopper’s Guide, 44,000 weekly; Active Seniors, 10,000 monthly; Siouxland Business Journal, 12,000 monthly; Hispanos Unidos, weekly; Work for You, weekly; Wheels for You, bi-weekly; Siouxland Home and Living, 53,000 bi-monthly.
WATERLOO/CEDAR FALLS – BizLink, 7,000 monthly; The Hometowner, 60,000 Tues.; House-to-Home, quarterly; Pulse, 45,000 weekly; The Review, 24,000 Tues.; Wheels For You, 15,000 bi-weekly.

KENTUCKY
MAYSVILLE – The Advertiser, 21,500 Mon.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Farm Guide, 28,000 bi-weekly;
WINONA – Neighbors Extra, 9,500 Sat.

MONTANA
BILLINGS – TV Focus, 1,400 Sat.; Thrifty Nickel, 26,500 Thurs.; Western Business, 6,000 monthly; Work For You, 26,500 Thurs.; Yellowstone Shopper, 18,000 Thurs.; Montana Land Magazine, monthly; Magic City Magazine, monthly.
BOZEMAN – Explore, 11,000 monthly; The Tributary, 7,000 monthly.
BUTTE REGION – Mini Nickel, Bozeman, 26,000 Thurs.; Celebrity, 25,400 Thurs.; Work For You, 12,000 Wed.; In Business, 8,000 quarterly; Western Shopper, Deer Lodge, 4,000 Thurs.; Three Rivers Edition, Dillon, 5,750 Thurs.
HELENA — The Adit, 25,000 Wed.; Montana Magazine, 42,000 bi-monthly.
MISSOULA – The Autofinder, 22,000 bi-weekly; Entertainer, 35,000 Thurs.; The Messenger, 24,000 Wed.; Western Montana In Business, 7,000 quarterly.
HAMILTON – Ravalli Wrapper, 8,800 Wed.
GREAT FALLS – Prairie Star, Great Falls, 18,000 bi-weekly.

NEBRASKA
BEATRICE – Penny Press, 20,500 Tues.; Sunland Home Showcase, 2,000 monthly; Sunland Mid-Week, 5,400 Wed.; Weekender, 15,150 Sat.
COLUMBUS – Columbus Area Choice, 25,000 Tues.; Scout Shopper, 13,500 Tues.; David City Banner Press, 3,800 Thurs.; Hispanos Unidos, 5,000, weekly.
FREMONT – Homefront Buyers Guide, 19,500 Thurs.; Tribune Marketplace, 21,000 Tues.
HEBRON – The Adviser, 7,900 Tues.
LINCOLN – Hispanos Unidos, 5,000, weekly; Home Showcase, 63,500 monthly; L Magazine, 10,500 monthly; Lincoln Real Estate, 7,500 monthly; Neighborhood Extra, 56,000 Sat.; ONE Magazine, monthly; Rentals For You, 7,500 weekly; Star City Sports, 10,000 monthly; Star Express, 30,000 weekly; Wheels For You, 25,000 each in East, West, N. Kansas and S. Kansas zones; Work For You, 4,000 bi-weekly.
PLATTSMOUTH – Plattsmouth Journal, 5,300 Thurs.; Consumer Connection, 16,000 Tues.
SAND HILLS REGION – Chaldron Record, Wed.; Your Neighbor, Wed.
SCHUYLER – Schuyler Sun, 2,950 Thurs.
TEKAMAH – Burt County Plaindealer, 2,000 Tues.; Midwest Messenger, 185,000 bi-weekly agricultural.

NEVADA
ELKO – Sagebrush Saver; Mining Quarterly.

NEW YORK
AUBURN – The Weekly Citizen, 19,000.
GLENS FALLS – The Scene, weekly; Wheels For You, 30,000 bi-weekly

NORTH DAKOTA
BISMARCK – Jobs Magazine, 3,000 Mon.; Farm & Ranch Guide, 38,000 bi-weekly; The Finder, 39,000 Wed.; Your Home, 30,000 Fri.
DICKINSON – PennySaver, 6,700 Thurs.
MANDAN – Mandan News, 1,700 Thurs.
MINOT – Minot Finder, 25,000 Thurs.

OREGON
ALBANY/CORVALLIS – This Week, 19,000 Wed.; Mid-Valley Real Estate Extra, 17,500 Wed.; House to Home, monthly.
COTTAGE GROVE – Cottage Grove Sentinel, 4,500 Wed.
LEBANON – Lebanon Express, 2,800 Wed.
NEWPORT – Newport News-Times, 10,000 Wed./Fri.; Coast On Over, 40,000 monthly; This Week, 10,500 Tues.
PORTLAND – Nickel Ads, 173,000 Wed.
SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield News, 7,500 Wed./Sat.

PENNSYLVANIA
CARLISLE – The Sentinel Direct, 24,000 monthly; The Sentinel Weekly, Carlisle, 16,500 Mon.; The Sentinel Weekly, Perry, 16,500 Mon.; The Shippensburg Sentinel, 11,450 Tues.; 1,600 Sat.

SOUTH CAROLINA
ORANGEBURG – Shopper’s Extra, 15,000 weekly; Wheels For You, 10,000 Fri.

SOUTH DAKOTA
BLACK HILLS REGION – Black Hills Bandit, 7,000 Fri.; Meade County Times-Tribune, Wed.; Black Hills Press, Sat.; Butte County Valley Irrigator, Thurs.; Belle Fourche Post, Wed.; Belle Fourche Bee, Sat.; Lawrence County Centennial, Thurs.; Hot Springs Star, Tues.; Star Extra, Tues.; Deadwood Gaming, monthly.
RAPID CITY – Rapid City Advertiser, 14,660 Wed.; Northern Hills Journal, 6,600 Wed.; Wheels For You, 14,000 bi-monthly.
SPEARFISH – Northern Hills Advertiser, Spearfish, 19,900 Wed.
SIOUX FALLS – Tri-State Neighbor, 29,000 bi-weekly agricultural.

WASHINGTON
LONGVIEW – Neighbors, 24,500 Wed.; Real Estate Magazine, 33,000 semi-monthly; Second Half, 24,000 monthly.
LYNNWOOD/SEATTLE – Little Nickel, 320,000 Wed.-Thur.
KENNEWICK – Nickel Nik Classifieds, 30,000 Thurs.; Wheel Deals, 22,000 Fri.
MOSES LAKE – Nickel Saver, 20,000 Thurs.; Homes, 22,000 monthly.
SPOKANE – Driveline, 23,000 Fri.; Home Buyers, 17,500 monthly; Nickel Nik, 28,000 Fri.; Nickel Nik Wheel Deals, 44,000 Fri.; Nickel Nik RV Wheel Deals, 33,000 Fri.
WENATCHEE – NCW Nickel Ads, 25,000 Thurs.; NCW Real Estate Guide, 22,000 monthly.
WALLA WALLA – Buyline Classifieds, 22,000 Thurs.

WISCONSIN
BLACK RIVER FALLS – Jackson County Chronicle.
CHIPPEWA FALLS – Chippewa County Advertiser, 12,500 Sun.; Your Family Shopper, 31,800 Sat.; Chippewa Valley Business Report; Marketplace Homes.
EAU CLAIRE – Tradin’ Post Buyer’s Guide, 28,000 Tues.
MELROSE – Melrose Chronicle, 3,800, Thurs.
MENOMONIE – Dunn County Homes, 22,500 monthly; Dunn County News, 4,400 Wed./Sun.; Dunn County Reminder, 22,000 Wed.; Dunn County Shopper, 17,000 Sun.
LA CROSSE – Home Buyers Guide, 10,500 monthly; River Valley Business Report, 7,000 quarterly; Tri-County Foxxy Shopper, 35,100 Mon.; Wheels For You, 21,000 bi-weekly; Work For You, 15,000 Tues.
ONALASKA/HOLMEN – The Onalaska Community Life and The Holmen Courier, 2000 weekly.
SPARTA – Home Buyers Guide, 10,500 monthly; Senior Sampler, 16,800 monthly; Triad, 4,200 bi-weekly; Sparta Foxxy Shopper, 15,950 Mon.
TOMAH – Tomah Journal, 4,850 Mon.; Monitor Herald, 4,850 Thurs.; Tomah Foxxy Shopper, 13,250 Mon.
VIROQUA – Viroqua Foxxy Shopper, 15,600, Mon.; Vernon County Broadcaster, 5,400 Thurs.
WESTBY – Westby Times, 1,600 Thurs.
WEST SALEM – Coulee News, 2,100 Thurs.
RACINE – Pennysaver, 55,000 Mon.; Work For You, 4,000 Tues.

WISCONSIN, MNI
Madison Newspapers Inc., publishes the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times. MNI also publishes the Daily Citizen in Beaver Dam, the Baraboo News Republic, the Portage Daily Register and the Shawano Leader, as well as other publications in Wisconsin. Lee Enterprises owns 50% of Madison Newspapers Inc. and supplies news and editorial content for the Wisconsin State Journal. The Capital Times Company oversees news and editorial content of The Capital Times.
MADISON – Ad World, 27,000 Mon.; Agri-View, 43,000 Thurs.; Apartment Showcase, 15,000 Fri.; Nursing Matters, 60,000 monthly; Shopper Stopper Extra South, 40,000 Sat.; Shopper Stopper North, 30,600, Wed.; Shopper Stopper South, 24,400, Wed.; Shopper Stopper West, 26,300 Wed.; Work For You, 12,800 Tues.; Core Weekly.
BEAVER DAM – Columbus Journal, 1,800 Sat; Monday Marketer, 19,400 Mon.; Monday-Mini; 18,000 Mon.; Neighbors, 7,950 Sat.; Shopper’s View, 10,350 Mon.; Shopping Reminder, 8,900 Wed.; Tri-County, 30,000 Wed.
MAUSTON – Juneau County Star-Times, 2,850 Wed./Sat.; Wisconsin Reminder, 15,000 Wed./Sun.
PORTAGE – Shopper Stopper, 53,600 Wed.; Shopper Stopper Extra, 40,500 Sun.
REEDSBURG – Reedsburg Times-Press, 1,550 Wed./Sat.
SAUK CITY – Sauk Prairie Eagle, 2,200 Wed./Sat.
SHAWANO – Penny Saver, 12,600 Wed./Sun.
WISCONSIN DELLS – Wisconsin Dells Events, 2,000 Wed./Sat.

WYOMING
CASPER – Casper Journal, 30,000 Wed.; Real Estate Monthly, 6,500; Wyoming Land Magazine, monthly.

Other Lee Operations
ONLINE — Links to newspaper websites.
ONLINE SERVICES – Townnews.com, Moline, IL.
COMMERCIAL PRINTING – Broadwater Printing, Townsend, MT; Hawkeye Printing and Trico Communications, Davenport, IA; Little Nickel Quik Print, Lynnwood, WA; Journal Star Commercial Printing, Lincoln, NE; Plaindealer Publishing, Tekamah, NE; Platen Press, Butte, MT; Spokane Print & Mail, Spokane, WA; Triangle Press, Chippewa Falls, WI; William Street Press, Decatur, IL.; Wingra Printing, Madison, WI.
BOOKS – Farcountry Press, Helena, MT.







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Copyright 1995-2004, Lee Enterprises

[Newsjock]

4. They tend to be hands-off editorially

At least as of a few years ago, that was the way things worked. I was at a Lee newspaper that was notoriously liberal (some would even say very liberal), but their editorial page has since veered to the right at least a little bit.

Given the options, I think it's generally a far better thing that Lee bought Pulitzer than, say, Gannett.

[Liberty Belle]

6. Were the Pulitzer papers liberal or conservative?

[aikido15]

7. That's what I'm wondering??

[President Jesus]

9. Publisher Michael Pulitzer is a big Dem contributor

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=MO&last=Pulitzer&first=Michael

but apparently the Mary Junck, chairman and ceo of Lee, has never made a political donation.

[murielm99]

10. There was a time when Lee tried to get all their newspapers

to run the same editorial every two weeks. They also tried to steer them toward supporting certain conservative candidates.

Some individual newspapers balked at the idea.

The newspaper near where I live was Lee Enterprises for awhile. They traded a group of papers with the Liberty Group to "strengthen regional clusters."

I don't think the Liberty Group is doing a bad job with our paper.

I was an undergrad with Mary Junck, and found her very conservative at the time. But I don't think she gets involved with politics personally .

[PDittie]

11. or Hearst n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

12. My ex-wife is the managing editor of the Times in Munster, IN...

...which used to be a Howard paper. Howard was notoriously right-wing and, given my ex-wife's politics, is probably still right-wing.:puke:

[aikido15]

5. Is he?

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

13. I couldn't help but notice...

... that the papers mentioned in South Dakota are in areas full of right wingnuts that vote against democratic candidates as a "rule of life". The Tri-State Neighbor out of Sioux Falls is a joke and is mostly distributed into southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa, where they think they are real cowboys. Funny, because very few in eastern South Dakota wear cowboy boots, haha.