McClatchy Sells Two Newspapers In Georgia

Two of Georgia’s oldest newspapers — The Macon Telegraph and the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer — have been acquired by a nonprofit organization, ending decades of corporate ownership.

The California-based McClatchy company sold the papers to the Georgia Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Local News, according to a news release. Purchase prices were not disclosed.

Cynthia DuBose, executive director of the Georgia Trust, said the move will strengthen local journalism in both cities. The nonprofit plans to expand local coverage at both papers, which have relied heavily on McClatchy-produced national and state content.

“That is going to be an investment in how we cover the communities, but also I think there’s an investment on our part in becoming not just an information provider, but actually a part of the community,” DuBose said. “We are going to be visible to the community. That’s probably going to be a change for (readers) in ways that they might not have seen in the past.”

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a grant from the Local News and Information Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, supported by more than a dozen donors including Aflac, funded the Columbus acquisition. The Macon purchase was backed by the Peyton Anderson Foundation. Anderson previously owned and published The Macon Telegraph before selling it to Knight Ridder, which McClatchy later acquired in 2006.The Georgia Trust now owns 21 news outlets across Georgia, including locations in Albany and Dublin. 

The National Trust also operates subsidiaries in Maine and Colorado.