Santa Rosa’s Press Democrat Was Just Sold. Locals Are Concerned For the Paper’s Future

North Bay journalists and elected officials are concerned for the future of Santa Rosa’s Press Democrat after it was sold to the nation’s largest private newspaper operator this week.

The newspaper’s ownership picture had been in flux for weeks amid negotiations to sell to media conglomerate Hearst, but instead, MediaNews Group swooped in and bought the paper, the company announced Thursday.

MediaNews Group, a subsidiary of investment firm Alden Global Capital, owns more than 100 newspapers across the country, including The Mercury News, East Bay Times, The Orange County Register and the Boston Herald, but it has earned a reputation among journalists for buying distressed papers and gutting staff.

This week’s deal was for all of Sonoma Media Investments (SMI), a locally based ownership group that also included the Petaluma Argus-Courier and the Sonoma Index-Tribune.

Hunter Paniagua, a staff representative with the Pacific Media Workers Guild, the union representing the Press Democrat’s editorial staff, said he was disappointed in the lack of transparency around the sale. Employees learned about the change in ownership through an email sent on Thursday.

“[We’re] disappointed in the way that the SMI owners went about doing business with MediaNews Group to complete that sale, doing so without notifying us at all after we had spent months talking with them about the potential sale to Hearst,” he said. “Not only are we disappointed in that part of it, but also just concerned about what it means to lose local ownership.”

The Press Democrat has been owned locally since 2012. As more local papers like it are sold to media conglomerates, elected leaders want to put in some guardrails to protect local ownership.

This year, Assemblymember Alex Lee (D–Milpitas) introduced a bill known as the Keep News Independent Act, which aims to increase transparency around the sale of newspapers. AB 611 would require local media outlets to provide at least 120 days’ notice to staff and subscribers before a transaction is made.

“Local media outlets are embedded in our communities, reporting on local issues that matter most to people,” Lee said in a statement to KQED. “The notice will give newsroom staff and local communities the opportunity and time to approach the owners with alternatives to keep the outlet independently owned.”

The Santa Rosa paper earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for its coverage of the Sonoma County wildfires. It previously won a Pulitzer for photography in 1997.

Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, a former Press Democrat staffer, said a newspaper’s quality depends on its access to resources. He said he has seen the newspaper shrink in its size and scope over the years as people move away from traditional media and toward internet publications.

“When the current owners bought the paper … it was seen as a good thing because local ownership generally means better local interest in the paper, better respect for the news, for local news,” he said. “Unfortunately, the reputation of Alden is that they don’t have a good reputation for building up newsrooms — in fact, the reputation is the opposite.”

Press Democrat reporter Phil Barber told KQED that while his newsroom was “stunned” by the sale, staffers were told all jobs at the newspaper were secure and that they would be allowed to maintain current union contracts. The union’s current contract is valid through next August.

In the meantime, Coursey said he hopes that MediaNews Group’s reputation will not dictate how it treats future employees, but that he and other readers will remain alert.

“People expect good local coverage from the Press Democrat,” he said. “I think we can all be hopeful, but we’re all going to be watching very closely.”