Saving Legacy Newspapers

What value do investors see in print media?

Stewart Bainum Jr. just committed $30 million over five years to prevent the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from shutting down.

David Hoffmann and his media company spent $50 million to take majority control of Lee Enterprises, which owns more than 100 newspapers across the country.

And several organizations swept in to save a few dozen newspapers across Iowa and Illinois that were part of News Media Corp. and Mid-America Publishing that would’ve otherwise gone extinct.

These major investments in late 2025 and 2026 show there’s still interest in preserving legacy newspapers, though these decisions appear to fly in the face of industry trends. At a time when the local newspapers industry is contracting under shrinking advertising dollars and audiences, the question becomes: Why are these investors doubling down? Do they see the potential for a local news transformation that others don’t?

In the last two decades, about 40% of all local newspapers across the United States have disappeared according to Medill’s State of Local News Report. Throughout 2025 alone, roughly 130 newspapers shut down.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was slated to cease operations on May 3 after 240 years in business. The former owner, Block Communications, reported losing more than $350 million in the last 20 years and found itself in a protracted labor dispute. Then in mid-April, the paper announced that it would be sold to the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit organization that runs the Baltimore Banner and was founded by Bainum.

Lee Enterprises, which holds titles including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Buffalo News and the Omaha World-Herald, ended last fiscal year with a $36 million loss and hasn’t had a profitable quarter in more than two years.

Meanwhile, an array of organizations came forward to prevent the shutdown of a number of newspapers part of News Media Corp. and Mid-America Publishing. While they had much smaller footprints than the Post-Gazette, they shared similar legacies and community ties in an otherwise barren local media landscape.

“I think that quite often, the institution itself comes with a lot of advantages. It often has revenue, it has an audience, it has journalists, it has a brand, usually, that’s somewhat well known. So to me, that feels like infrastructure worth saving,” said Tristan Loper, head of national programs for The Lenfest Institute, the Philadelphia-based organization that owns the Philadelphia Inquirer. “But these papers and established news orgs, they have to invest in transformation. There’s just no way they’re going to survive, even with a benefactor, if they don’t transform.”

Going against market forces

Each acquisition story is a bit different, of course, and the merits of whether a newspaper is worth saving vary based on a number of factors — what other media organizations exist in that community? Will the new owner invest in making the necessary changes to evolve with the times or maintain the status quo?

In the case of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Yoni Greenbaum is skeptical. Greenbaum is the vice president of product strategy for the American Press Institute who publishes his own newsletter independent from his API role, and he spelled out his concerns in an interview with Medill.

“To be clear, the Venetoulis acquisition is better than Alden Global [Capital] or closure, and I think that’s a real statement. I do mean that,” Greenbaum said. “But better than the worst alternative is not the same as smart, and I think the industry has been too quick to equate the two. In my mind, if Venetoulis really wanted to help the ecosystem, they could have taken that money and invested it in the existing ecosystem.

“I think it goes against market forces, it goes against traditional business trends. And I’m not so sure that at the end of the day, it makes sense for the industry. Pittsburgh definitely needs journalism. It did not necessarily need the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The industry treats those two as the same claim, but they’re not.”

Since taking ownership of the paper on May 4, the Post-Gazette has laid off roughly half of its staff, seeking to restructure amidst the organization’s long-term financial struggles.

“No one wants to see layoffs,” Loper said. “But there are also realities that you can’t ignore. This is not an industry that has found its footing yet. … I like that the Venetoulis Institute is saying, ‘We want to create a way to build,’ and I think that’s the right mindset. It’s not restructuring into a zombie state or over-leveraging it to turn it into a future sale or fire sale. It’s trying to be constructive, but it still hurts. There’s no way around that.”

Even still, Greenbaum argued that this act of simply turning the Post-Gazette into a nonprofit will dilute the ecosystem for the other nonprofit news organizations across the Pittsburgh area, as the organization would now be competing with other entities for funding.

The Pittsburgh ecosystem currently has a number of nonprofit newsrooms including Pittsburgh’s Public Source and WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR station. All in all, the area has more than 40 news organizations.

Loper expressed more optimism, that the Post-Gazette converting to a nonprofit wouldn’t necessarily divert money away from others.

“There are other people who maybe haven’t been following the ecosystem but are sort of activated by their favorite newspaper being rescued out of near-death experience,” he said. “I would look to the inspiration of the story that it’s likely to catalyze more giving. … It seems like there is a much broader understanding of why this stuff matters than there ever has been, so I think that’s hopeful. I’m not saying don’t worry, but I think there’s reason to think that it can all exist together.”

Significant to local communities

When an organization is looking to buy a legacy newspaper, what’s their calculus? What qualities are they looking for? What are their long-term plans?

As president of Dirks, Van Essen & April, a top merger and acquisition firm in the media industry, Sara April has seen a wide range of answers to those questions.

“There are some newspapers still within this country that are the lifeblood of their local community,” April said. “Folks look at that relevance, and it can be attractive if it’s a shell and it’s something that can be revived, or it can be attractive if that local franchise is still really relevant and strong. That’s what other buyers look for.”

While April was not involved with the Post-Gazette acquisition or the acquisitions of the small, mostly Midwest newspapers, she’s worked with organizations across similar markets.

“There’s got to be sort of a litmus test of, ‘Is it worth saving?’ It’s a really nuanced question,” she said. “And when you look at Pittsburgh versus those rural Iowa papers, those are just completely different businesses and completely different pressures on the expense structure.

“But the short answer I say is 100% yes, they are worth saving and investing in the conversion to newer business models.”

One of the key reasons April cited: preserving newspaper archives that in many cases can go back more than 100 years.

“I think with the amount of money that’s getting poured into local media through philanthropy and through local investors, a very small percentage of that could go towards preserving these legacy media brands and the importance of them to their community and the historical significance of them and converting them into a more current business model,” April added. “What does that mean? Everybody is in the process of figuring that out.

“But is there value in preserving them and converting them? I think there unquestionably is, because losing that history, it’s just significant to local communities to lose that.”

A more critical response

So what should we make of the idea of “saving” legacy newspapers?

Greenbaum thinks there needs to be more foresight and support provided before disaster strikes.

“If it’s the choice between a news desert or some type of support, I think I’m all for [support],” Greenbaum said. “But I think as opposed to just philanthropic support, I think the question really has to be more of, what are we doing to support those news organizations? How can we make sure that they’re not getting to the edge of the precipice before the rest of the industry says, ‘Oh, wait, they need help?’ Are we helping them explore new business models? Are we helping them understand changing revenue strategies? Are we helping them to understand technology?”

One of the biggest things, Greenbaum added, is that it’s counterproductive for the industry to celebrate a newspaper being saved and then move on. The idea of saving a publication from extinction might make for a noble story, but it’s disingenuous to not look at these situations with more nuance.

“I think we need to be a little more cautious when we rally around the idea of ‘saving’ and a ‘savior’ and what it means to save,” he said. “I think the challenges deserve a more critical look and a more critical response.”

Added Loper, speaking specifically about the Post-Gazette: “They have to transform, too. [The Venetoulis investment is] a runway. It’s a lifesaver, reel you back in so that you can come back and live another day. There’s so much more that still has to be done.”