NORTH

GateHouse Media, parent of T&G, acquiring Gardner News

Telegram & Gazette Staff
Alberta S. Bell, president and publisher of The Gardner News,stands in the newsroom Monday in Gardner. [T&G Staff/Rick Cinclair]

WORCESTER - GateHouse Media LLC, owner of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, is acquiring The Gardner News.

Kirk A. Davis, chief executive officer of GateHouse Media, made the announcement to employees Monday morning in Gardner. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The Gardner News, which has been one of the oldest family-owned newspapers in New England, began publishing in 1869. Alberta S. Bell is president and publisher of the newspaper.

“I admire how The Gardner News has stuck to a winning formula. What a tremendous service this daily newspaper provides to Gardner and the surrounding towns. We are proud to continue Alberta’s fine legacy of providing top-notch journalism to the greater Gardner community,” said Kirk Davis, chief executive officer of GateHouse Media, in a prepared statement.

“I have been following Alberta’s newspaper closely for many years and have a direct connection with the North Central Massachusetts community,” Mr. Davis said. “We at GateHouse feel an obligation to serve the readers and advertisers the best we can in the years to come.”

The Gardner News is distributed in Gardner, Ashburnham, Hubbardston, Phillipston, Templeton, Westminster and Winchendon.

Mrs. Bell, who has been publisher of the paper since 1992, said although she has enjoyed her many years with newspaper, she is also confident of the newspaper's future with GateHouse Media.

"They are really newspaper oriented," she said. "I really like the connection and the resources they can bring to us."

Mrs. Bell said the new owners will be able to expand the paper's digital footprint and make other changes she did not have the resources to do.

"I can't wait to see what our pages are going to look like," she said.

Mrs. Bell said she has long respected the quality of community-oriented newspapers Mr. Davis ran as part of the Holden Landmark Corp., and believes GateHouse Media will maintain the best aspects of The Gardner News and make changes that will make it even better.

"He (Mr. Davis) really does care about newspapers and community newspapers," she said. "This is a good newspaper and it is going to become a great newspaper."

The acquisition of the Gardner News comes about a month after GateHouse purchased the Holden Landmark Corp., which included nine websites and six print newspapers: Worcester Magazine, The Landmark in Holden, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, the Leominster Champion, Bay State Parent and The Grafton News.

The parent company of GateHouse Media LLC, New Media Investment Group Inc. of New York City, is acquiring the Holden Landmark Corp. for $1.2 million, according a financial filing.

GateHouse owns about 130 daily newspapers and more than 300 weekly newspapers. In New England, GateHouse newspapers include the Providence Journal, the Cape Cod Times, the MetroWest Daily News and numerous weekly publications. GateHouse has owned the T&G for three years.

“I look forward to working with the team at The Gardner News, getting to know the readers, advertisers, community stakeholders and continuing the winning ways of this great publication. This market has been well served with a dedicated staff of professionals and we are grateful for the opportunity to work alongside them,” said Paul Provost, president of the Telegram & Gazette.

New Media Investment Group Inc. is managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC. New Media posted nearly $1.3 billion in revenue and a profit of $31.6 million during 2016.

The Gardner News was first established as a weekly in 1869 by A.G. Bushnell, according to the newspaper's website. The newspaper began publishing a daily in 1897. Walter Hubbard became the owner in 1921. In a reorganization in 1963 with the death of publisher Dorothy Hubbard Bell, her two sons, C. Gordon Bell and W. Shane Bell became the new owners. In 1964, C. Gordon Bell became general manager, with his father, W.F. Gordon Bell as president. C. Gordon Bell became president and publisher in 1973 and led the paper through years of technological improvements. At the death of C. Gordon Bell in February of 1992, his wife, vice president and general manager Alberta S. Bell, succeeded him as president.

In June 2011, The Gardner News announced it would be acquired by the Lowell Publishing Co., a subsidiary of Denver-based MediaNews Group, the parent company of the Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg and the Lowell Sun. However, the sale was called off five months later and the newspaper remained in the hands of Mrs. Bell. MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media merged into Digital First Media in 2013.

GateHouse recently tried to buy the Boston Herald through a bankruptcy court auction but was outbid by Digital First Media Inc., another large owner of U.S. newspapers.