Leominster Champion newspaper shut down in July
Photo | Courtesy of Tim Doyle
Leominster City Hall
The Leominster Champion, a community newspaper founded in 2006 and purchased by New Jersey-based CherryRoad Media in 2022, has not published any new stories in nearly a year, as it shut down last summer.
The last articles published by the newspaper appeared on its website on July 17. A statement by CherryRoad published on the paper’s website said the Champion suffered financial losses in every month it operated since it was acquired.
“Our company is dedicated to the preservation of community journalism. Since the purchase of our 1st paper in late-2020 to today, we have prided ourselves on our ability to fight the difficult battle that newspapers face in today’s digital society. Unfortunately, that battle cannot always be won,” the statement reads. “The Leominster Champion has struggled in recent years to find its footing in this community. Since purchasing The Leominster Champion, CherryRoad Media has been unable to avoid financial losses every month. The paper was losing money when we bought it, and it continued to do so. We must now come to terms with the fact that we do not have a path forward to sustainability.”
CherryRoad purchased the publication from New York City-based newspaper giant Gannett in 2022 after Gannett announced it was planning to close Leominster Champion and three other local publications.
CherryRoad continues to operate the other Central Massachusetts publications it bought from Gannett in 2022: The Clinton Item, The Grafton News, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and The Landmark, a publication which covers Holden, Pazton, Rutland, Princeton, and Sterling. The firm owns publications in 17 other states.
Many local media publications have struggled to turn a profit amid insufficient subscriptions numbers and a lack of local advertising support, with independent journalists and new media models attempting to fill those gaps.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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