Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

EVERETT — Black Press, the British Columbia-based longtime owner of The Daily Herald and another 150 publications in the United States and Canada, was officially sold Monday.

A new ownership group includes Canadian investors Canso Investment Counsel and Deans Knight Capital Management, as well as Carpenter Media Group, a media company based in Alabama.

Carpenter Media will manage Black Press Media and its subsidiaries, including Sound Publishing. Sound publishes The Herald and another 42 newspapers in Washington and Alaska.

The new owners introduced themselves late last week in a company email. Black Press Media’s new owners told employees they “believe firmly in the value and importance of local community news and the work you each do. Along with you, we are dedicated to meeting our important obligations in local news and community engagement.”

The email was signed by Black Press’ interim CEO Glenn Rogers, Carpenter Media Group owner Todd Carpenter and Carpenter president and CEO Tim Prince.

“Going forward, key leaders in our company remain in their important roles along with some taking on additional responsibility as we go,” the email said. “Randy Blair, Josh O’Connor, Dennis Francis, Chris Hargreaves, Andrew Franklin and several leaders in head office and around our group were integral to leading us through this process.”

On behalf of the new owners, Todd Carpenter said: “Carpenter and our fellow new owners resolutely support the vital role that effective journalists, newspapers and digital news organizations play in strong communities, and we are committed to ensuring our publications continue to play that essential part in the communities we serve.”

In an editorial Carpenter linked to in the email, he also wrote: “Much group ownership of local media is now publicly traded or controlled by private investors. History has shown us these institutions cannot survive under the control of owners with financial motives as the highest priority. Earnings per share and return on equity as primary goals wreck newspapers, plain and simple.”

Earlier this year, Black Press, based in Surrey, B.C., filed for creditor protection in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Black Press employs about 1,200 people, in all, in the United States and Canada, including at The Star-Advertiser in Honolulu.

The closing date, originally set for March 12, was delayed due to a cyber attack on The Star-Advertiser. In early January, the Akira Ransomware Group gained access to several of the newspaper’s servers, encrypted them and demanded $4 million ransom. The amount was negotiated down to $150,000 and paid in Bitcoin, according to court documents.

By print circulation, Black Press is the sixth-largest U.S. daily newspaper publisher.

“Sound Publishing intends to continue serving as the go-to source for local news — online and in print — by operating 43 local news publications and various customer solutions services within the United States,” the company said.

With a print circulation of 17,560 in 2023, The Daily Herald, founded in 1901, is Sound Publishing’s largest newspaper.

In 2022, staff at The Herald voted to form a union.

Since then, the union has been negotiating with Herald management. Both sides met earlier this month for the first time since December, said Kaitlin Gillespie, the union’s executive officer.

While contract negotiations are ongoing, unionized employees cannot be laid off, Gillespie said.

“The Herald is still in negotiations on the first contract, which means that the company has to maintain employees’ current working conditions, including layoffs,” she said.

Gillespie said they hope to wrap up negotiations in June.

Herald publisher Rudi Alcott said Tuesday he did not have additional information about the sale.

“We are dedicated to serving communities with the best hyperlocal journalism, available 24/7 and produced by passionate journalists living in those communities,” said Rogers, who will now serve as a consultant for Carpenter Media, in a statement.

“With our strong financial position and the support of our new ownership group, our readers and advertisers can count on us to continue delivering the quality journalism and advertising solutions that we are known for,” Rogers added.

Carpenter Media Group, formerly Carpenter Newsmedia, publishes the Bowling Green Daily News in Kentucky, the Port Arthur News in Texas and about two dozen other newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Kentucky.

Founded in 1987, Sound Publishing is the largest community news organization in Washington, with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska. Black Press Media publishes 150 daily and weekly papers, magazines and websites. Readership across the network exceeds 19 million users per month, the company said.

Sound Publishing’s newspapers include:

• The Aberdeen Daily World;

• The Auburn Reporter;

• The Bainbridge Island Review;

• The Bellevue Reporter;

• The Bothell-Kenmore Reporter;

• The Enumclaw Courier-Herald;

• The Federal Way Mirror;

• The Issaquah Reporter;

• The Journal of the San Juans;

• The Juneau Empire;

• The Kenai Peninsula Clarion;