Santa Rosa Press Democrat Sold to Nation’s Largest Private Newspaper Group

Updated at 5 p.m. May 5

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat and sister publications have been acquired by the MediaNews Group, the nation’s largest private newspaper operator — and not media conglomerate Hearst, as originally planned.

Phil Barber, a reporter for The Press Democrat, said the newsroom was “stunned” by the sale, which staff learned about in an email from the MediaNews Group — a newspaper publisher owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital — and not from management.

“We have a lot of questions,” Barber told KQED. “We’re a pretty optimistic group by nature, and we certainly want to make the most of this and hope for the best, but it’s going to open up a period of uncertainty for us.”

In a statement, Darius Anderson, managing member of Sonoma Media Investments — which owns the North Bay papers — said a viable, independent local press was vital to the North Bay community.

“The newspaper, its staff and most importantly the public will be best served under the stewardship of MediaNews Group, with the newspaper expertise and financial resources necessary to carry on our mission of delivering the highest-caliber local journalism for future North Bay generations,” Anderson said.

The announcement was the latest twist in a winding plan to find a new owner for the paper, which has been under local ownership since 2012.

Earlier this month, The Press Democrat’s staff faced a difficult choice of waiving their union contract in order to make the Hearst deal possible. While the union had concerns that Hearst would not recognize their current contract, Barber said staff were pressured into signing a memorandum of understanding so that the deal could be made.

“Next thing we know, the next communication that we get is that we’re being sold to Alden,” Barber said.

While it is not clear what happened to the deal with Hearst, or why the sale to MediaNews Group went through, Barber said that the newsroom was told that all jobs at The Press Democrat and its sister publications were secure, and staff would be allowed to maintain their current union contracts.

While that news was a “great relief,” Barber said, the reporter still has doubts.

Alden, which also includes Bay Area papers like the San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times in its portfolio, has earned a reputation among journalists for buying distressed newspapers and gutting their ranks.

Consolidation is another concern, Barber said. The acquisition includes other outlets under Sonoma Media Investments, such as the Petaluma Argus-Courier and Sonoma Index-Tribune. The papers have been under local ownership for 13 years, since Anderson, a local real estate developer and his partners purchased it from the newspaper chain Halifax Media Group, which had owned it for less than a year after buying it from the New York Times Company. Before that, the papers were in local hands for nearly a century.

“We’ve all enjoyed our independence and our collaboration as a small cluster of publications,” Barber said.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat garnered a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for its tenacious coverage of wildfires in Sonoma County.

“We are honored to bring a newspaper of this quality into MediaNews Group,” said Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group, in a statement. “We appreciate the importance of local news and information to the communities where we publish and are proud to expand our commitment to Northern California in the North Bay.”

KQED’s Natalia Navarro contributed to this report.

Correction: The description of Alden Global Capital has been updated.