Paxton Media Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paxton Media Group, LLC
Type Family-owned
Founded 1896, Paducah, Kentucky
Headquarters 201 South 4th Street, Paducah, Kentucky 42003 Flag of the United States United States
Key people David M. Paxton, President & CEO
Industry Publishing
Products Newspapers, Media
Sources: [1][2]

Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky, is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers and a TV station, WPSD-TV in Paducah. David M. Paxton is president and CEO.

The company owns 32 daily newspapers and numerous weekly newspapers, mostly in the southern United States. Daily circulation totals 350,000. Holdings include The Paducah Sun, The Herald-Sun in Durham, North Carolina, The High Point Enterprise in High Point, North Carolina and the Jonesboro Sun in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

In 2007, Paxton Media Group purchased three Indiana newspapers: the Marion Chronicle-Tribune (in July) from the Gannett Foundation; the Huntington Herald-Press (in May) from the Quayle family; and the LaPorte County Herald-Argus from Small Newspaper Group (in September).

Contents

[edit] History

Paxton Media Group traces it roots to 1896, when a group of investors headed by William F. Paxton launched The Evening Sun by buying the assets of the failing Paducah Standard at 214 Broadway. The cost was $8,900, and the men started with $10,000 capital. The newspaper did not make a profit until 1918. In 1929, Paxton's son, Edwin J. Paxton, who had taken over as editor, bought out the rival News-Democrat. After the merger, the newspaper became The Sun-Democrat, and operations were moved to the current location at 408 Kentucky Avenue in 1934. The name changed to The Paducah Sun in 1978 at the request of Jack Paxton, editor at the time and grandson of Edwin J. Paxton.[1]

At 4:20 p.m. May 28, 1957, WPSD television, (the PSD stands for Paducah Sun-Democrat) went on the air as the company-owned television station based in Paducah. It is an NBC affiliate.

The company operated only The Paducah Sun and WPSD-TV until 1989, when it began acquiring other newspapers.

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Political bias

Paxton Media Group's various media outlets have been criticized for promoting conservative viewpoints and Republican Party candidates, while criticizing liberal viewpoints and Democratic Party candidates. Recent examples include the headline "Don't Vote Democratic" on the front page of an election-week edition of The Cadiz Record[3] and the Paducah Sun's frequent criticism of Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo's investigation of the alleged corruption of Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher. CEO and President David Paxton defends the conservative tone of Paxton Media Group's holdings as simply the product "of growing up in Western Kentucky and the socially conservative environment" of the family homestead.[1]. Critics have claimed political bias can be derived from the second cousin of President David Paxton being elected the mayor of Paducah, William F. Paxton. Paducah was the home of Vice President Alben Barkley (D)and was a Democratic Pary stronghold for many years.

[edit] Reduction in content, quality

[edit] Durham Herald-Sun

Google cache of the column promising no staff or production changes to the Herald-Angus
Google cache of the column promising no staff or production changes to the Herald-Angus

Paxton Media Group was criticized when it fired nearly 25 percent of the employees of The Herald-Sun, many of them longtime staples of the newsroom, the day after assuming ownership. Paxton defended the move by claiming that the newsroom was overstaffed and the salaries were causing the Durham, North Carolina paper to post annual losses.[1][4] According to the Durham-based Independent Weekly, sources familiar with the Herald-Sun, Co.'s accounting ledgers, the company was operating profitably at least 6 months prior to Paxton's $124 million purchase.[5] Critics have noted a dramatic increase in the number of stories culled from syndication services, as well as an increase in the instances of multiple articles written by the same journalist appearing in the same day's newspaper.{fact} Similar faults have been found in the accuracy and reporting of other Paxton subsidiaries.[3]

Allegations of lackluster and biased reporting by Paxton Media Group's holdings became news, again, with the dismissal of charges against the suspects in the Duke lacrosse rape case, when it became clear that The Herald-Sun editorial policy would not permit the paper to publish criticism of Durham district attorney Mike Nifong, despite the fact that Nifong was facing ethics charges by the North Carolina State Bar and demands by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys that Nifong remove himself from the case.[6][7][8][9][10] Allegations have also been raised that The Herald-Sun editorial staff knew, from interviews and police reports, that significant details in the accuser's claim had changed repeatedly, but chose to ignore them, or publish articles which bolstered her claims.

[edit] La Porte Herald-Argus

In September 2007, Paxton purchased the Herald-Argus of La Porte, Indiana amidst rumors that the paper would either be moved, merged, or have its staff severely cut, due to the recent acquisition of a number of rural newspapers in northern Indiana.[11] In order to allay those rumors, then-publisher John A. Newby wrote a column that firmly stated that the Herald-Argus was profitable and "lean" and therefore would not see any dramatic changes.[12][13] Despite published claims to the contrary, in October, shortly after taking over operation of the paper, Paxton Media laid-off about half its staff at the Herald-Argus and moved its production location to that of the Paxton-owned Herald-Palladium in St. Joseph, Michigan, which by Paxton's own admission, has negatively impacted the paper's ability to publish timely local news.[14][15] Almost no media outlets have covered this, including newspapers owned by Paxton.[citation needed] Reminiscent of the abrupt manner in which the Herald-Sun firings were conducted, at least one longtime Herald-Argus staffer was notified of her termination via certified mail while she recovered from surgery at home.[14][16] The remaining Herald-Argus staffers and the staffers at other nearby Paxton-owned papers were specifically instructed not to publish information regarding the Herald-Argus staff cuts and production changes.[14] The Herald-Argus' website has also removed the 17 September, 2007 column which promised that there would be no staff cuts or relocation of the paper's offices under Paxton's watch.

[edit] High Point Enterprise

On 15 November 2007, reports indicate that Paxton dramatically cut the staff of the High Point Enterprise in High Point, North Carolina, which Paxton took control of in 2004.[17][18] This is the third round of layoffs since 1999, when Paxton first purchased a stake in the paper. Senior Enterprise staff frequently criticized Paxton's management of the paper, arguing that there was a quantifiable reduction in local coverage.[19]

[edit] The Messenger

Within the last year, The Messenger has had two rounds of layoffs, eliminating the entire press-room staff along with the circulation workers. In addition, the most recent cuts have eliminated most of the newsroom staff, with the exception of the reporters, consolidating printing and pagination duties to the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer offices.

[edit] Properties

[edit] Newspapers

[edit] Daily

[edit] Weekly

List is incomplete The Haralson Gateway-Beacon- Bremen, Georgia The Tallapoosa Journal= Tallapoosa, Georgia

[edit] Other

  • WPSD - Paducah, Kentucky
  • Sun Publishing[1] - Paducah, Kentucky

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI/reports/Clemmons.htm Retrieved 5 June 2007.
  2. ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/137/137046.html Retrieved 5 June 2007.
  3. ^ a b http://www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/2006/11/more_shameless__1.html Retrieved 5 June, 2007.
  4. ^ NPAA: "Veteran Employees Surprised By Rapid Firings When Paxton Buys Herald-Sun" Retrieved 21 December, 2007.
  5. ^ Independent Weekly: News: Feature: Paxton may have overpaid for Herald-Sun
  6. ^ Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out. 60 Minutes. 15 Oct 2006.
  7. ^ Lacrosse files show gaps in DA's case. The News & Observer. 6 August 2006.
  8. ^ Nifong's move. The News & Observer. 23 December 2006.
  9. ^ Investigate the investigation. The Charlotte Observer. 23 December 2006.
  10. ^ The prosecutor is guilty. The Star-Ledger. 30 December 2006.
  11. ^ "Paxton Media Group buys another Northern Indiana paper, getting monopoly on dailies in county" Retrieved 21 December 2007.
  12. ^ Herald-Argus: "Sale of H-A does not impact a legacy!" Google Cache. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
  13. ^ Huntington (IN) Herald-Press Sold to Paxton Media Group Retrieved 20 December 2007.
  14. ^ a b c Editor and Publisher: "Paxton Reported to be Cutting Dozens of Jobs in LaPorte, Ind." Retrieved 20 December, 2007.
  15. ^ Herald-Argus "Speak Out!" Retrieved 20 December, 2007.
  16. ^ http://www.readership101.com/2007/11/things-fall-apart.html Retrieved 21 December, 2007.
  17. ^ Has Paxton Media Group struck again? Retrieved 21 December 2007.
  18. ^ Layoffs in High Point. Retrieved 21 December 2007.
  19. ^ "Ye Olde Archives: Herald-Sun becomes a link in chain," Independent Weekly, December 8, 2004