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.
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 subsequent 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 4:20p.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.
In 1998, the company purchased Nixon Newspapers Inc which included the Wabash Plain Dealer, located in Wabash, Indiana.
In December 2004, Paxton Media Group purchased The Herald-Sun in Durham, North Carolina. At the time of the purchase Paxton Media Group already owned 7 other newspapers in North Carolina. Durham, N.C., is home to Duke University. In 2006, The Herald-Sun drew criticism[3] during the Duke Lacrosse false rape accusation scandal. In late December 2016, Paxton sold The Herald-Sun to The McClatchy Company.
In July 2020, Paxton purchased the Dubois County Herald in Jasper, Indiana.[12] In October 2020, Paxton purchased the Wilkes Journal-Patriot in North Carolina.[13] In May 2021, Paxton purchased Landmark Community Newspapers, publisher of 47 daily and weekly newspapers in Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia.[14] It later resold some publications acquired in the Landmark purchase that it considered outside the company's footprint: The Las Vegas Optic in New Mexico to O'Rourke Media Group;[15]Huskers Illustrated to Nicholas Holdings;[16] and two newspapers in Iowa, the Red Oak Express and the Glenwood Opinion-Tribune, to J. Louis Mullen.[17]
In November 2022 Paxton acquired six North Carolina newspapers from Gannett Co., Inc. The additions include the Lexington Dispatch, the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, the Burlington Times-News, the Kinston Free Press, the New Bern Sun Journal, and The Daily News of Jacksonville.[18]
In May 2024, the company acquired the Kernersville News.[20]
Business practices
Durham Herald-Sun
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 it assumed 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][21] 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.[22]
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.[29] 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.[30][31] 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.[32][33] 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.[32][34] 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.[32] The Herald-Argus' website has also removed the September 17, 2007 column which promised that there would be no staff cuts or relocation of the paper's offices under Paxton's watch.
In July 2008, Paxton consolidated operations even more, making the publisher, managing editor, and other editorial management the same for both papers.
High Point Enterprise
On November 15, 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.[35] 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.[36]
KBSI is a television station licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for Southeastern Missouri, the Purchase area of Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Northwest Tennessee. It is owned by the Community News Media subsidiary of Standard Media alongside Paducah, Kentucky–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WDKA. The two stations share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau; KBSI's transmitter is located in unincorporated Cape Girardeau County north of the city.
During the 2004 United States presidential election, the online edition of Editor & Publisher, a journal covering the North American newspaper industry, tabulated newspaper endorsements for the two major candidates, Republican incumbent George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. As of November 1, 2004, their tally shows the following:
WPSD-TV is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region, Southern Illinois, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee. Owned by locally based Paxton Media Group, the station maintains studios on Television Lane in Paducah, and its transmitter is located at Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky.
Run for Your Life is an American drama television series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.
Howard Publications was a family-owned company of newspapers in the United States. It owned 16 daily newspapers when it sold to Lee Enterprises for $694 million in 2002.
The Paducah Sun is a daily newspaper in Paducah, Kentucky, owned by the family-run Paxton Media Group. The paper was formerly known as the Paducah Sun-Democrat. The publisher is Bill Evans. Matt Jones is the general manager.
Stephens Media LLC was a Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the California Newspapers Partnership and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The Herald-Sun is an American, English language daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the McClatchy Company.
WIAR was Paducah, Kentucky's first radio broadcasting station. It was initially licensed in July 1922, ceased making regular broadcasts in May 1923, and was formally deleted in early 1924.
The High Point Enterprise is an American, English language daily, morning newspaper that primarily serves High Point, North Carolina. The newspaper's coverage area includes parts of Guilford, Davidson, Randolph and Forsyth counties in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina. The Enterprise is owned by Paxton Media Group. The paper was founded in 1885 and is a member of the North Carolina Press Association.
The Log Cabin Democrat is a daily newspaper in Conway, Arkansas, United States, serving Conway and Faulkner County and some surrounding areas. It was founded in July 1879 as The Log Cabin. Its publisher is David Meadows, who also serves as the publisher of The Courier in Russellville.
The News-Democrat & Leader is a twice-weekly newspaper in Russellville, Kentucky. It has been published since 1806, fourteen years after Kentucky became a state. Russellville is the county seat of Logan County.
The Free Press is an American, English language daily newspaper based in Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina. It has served the city of Kinston and Lenoir County, North Carolina since 1882. The Free Press was owned by Freedom Communications until 2012, when Freedom sold its Florida and North Carolina papers to Halifax Media Group. In November 2014, Halifax announced the sale of The Free Press and its other properties to New Media Investment Group Inc. In 2015, Halifax was acquired by New Media Investment Group, which was merged into Gannett in 2019.
The Princeton Clarion is a newspaper circulating Tuesday and Friday mornings, two days a week in Princeton and Gibson County, Indiana, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1846 as a weekly edition, and is considered the oldest continuously operating business in Gibson County. It is one of two newspapers in Gibson County. Its website is www.pdclarion.com. Previous owner Brehm Communications sold the paper to Paxton in September 2016. Other area newspapers under the Paxton Media Group umbrella are The South Gibson Star-Times, The Press-Dispatch, Hometown Register in Southeastern Illinois; Vincennes Sun-Commercial, Dubois County Herald, Warrick Standard, Paoli-Springs Valley News-Herald, Spencer County Journal-Democrat and Perry County News in Indiana and Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer and Paducah Sun in Kentucky.
Rust Communications is an American privately owned media company based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Southeast Missourian is its flagship publication.
The Daily News is an American, English language daily newspaper headquartered in Jacksonville, North Carolina. It has served the city of Jacksonville, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, and the surrounding parts of Onslow County including, Richlands, Swansboro, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge, and North Topsail since 1953.
The Vincennes Sun-Commercial is a newspaper in the city of Vincennes, Indiana, United States. It is currently a member of the Hoosier State Press Association. The newspaper was originally created by Elihu Stout in 1804, and is the first newspaper in the state of Indiana. In 2004 the Vincennes sun-commercial was recognized by the Indiana General Assembly House of Representatives on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of its founding.
The 1946 Eastern Kentucky Maroons football team was an American football team that represented Eastern Kentucky State College as a member of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) during the 1946 college football season. In their tenth and final season under head coach Rome Rankin, the Maroons compiled a 5–4 record, won the KIAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 112 to 88.
Strauss, Michael (October 23, 2007). "Truth News: Intermodal... Hot Topic but who weighs in?". Michigan City News Dispatch.[permanent dead link] - Mayoral candidate alleges discrimination by the La Porte Herald Argus in an online blog posted by the Michigan City News Dispatch, another Paxton Media Group paper.
↑ Newby, John A. (September 17, 2007). "Sale of H-A does not impact a legacy!". Herald-Argus. Google Cache. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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