KENDALLVILLE — Fort Wayne Newspapers will purchase The News Sun, based in Kendallville and serving Noble and LaGrange counties, and other publications from KPC Media, the two companies announced on May 18.
After the acquisition is complete, the former KPC publications will become part of Fort Wayne Newspapers, in which The Ogden Newspapers owns controlling interest.
Editors and reporters with the KPC publications in northeast Indiana will continue to work in and serve their communities from their individual markets, said Michael Christman, a regional publisher with Ogden and also former president and CEO of Fort Wayne Newspapers.
Ogden will build on the legacy of the Witwer family, Christman said, which for 50 years owned and operated The News Sun and other KPC publications. Following the ownership change, the newspapers will remain the trusted and independent source of local news, sports, opinion and entertainment serving residents and businesses in northeast Indiana.
“We are proud to be continuing the Witwer family’s legacy of strong, community-based journalism,” Christman said. “We hope to honor and build on their legacy well into the future by continuing to publish — both in print and on our digital media platforms community-centric newspapers that cover the issues most important to the residents.”
“With Fort Wayne Newspapers at the helm, Northeast Indiana can count on a continuation of the long tradition of journalism-based public service in the years to come,” said Richard Stolz, KPC Media’s president.
The acquisition includes three daily newspapers — The News Sun, serving Noble and LaGrange counties; The Star, serving DeKalb County; and The Herald Republican, serving Steuben County — as well as the semi-weekly Post & Mail, serving Whitley County; the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly; several weekly newspapers, websites, social media platforms, niche magazines, phone books and other publications.
Lori Fritz, president and CEO of Fort Wayne Newspapers, said the former KPC publications will continue to have an independent editorial voice that best serves the residents of each community.
“Kendallville and other communities have been well-served and well-informed for generations through the work of The News Sun and KPC’s other publications and their employees. That will continue under our watch,” she said.
Calling KPC publications “a critical resource for the communities they serve,” Cameron Nutting Williams, vice president of America’s Newspapers and a member of the Fort Wayne Newspapers’ ownership, said “we are pleased to be continuing the excellent stewardship of KPC Media.”
“We continue to believe very strongly in the power of publications such as The News Sun and the other KPC Media publications and the role they play in informing their communities with trusted local news. We believe in their value to readers, advertisers, and communities. We believe that strong, responsible and connected local publications are critically important to building and supporting communities, now more than ever,” she said.
Fort Wayne Newspapers is a partnership between The News Publishing Co., owned by The Ogden Newspapers of Wheeling, West Virginia, and the locally owned Journal Gazette Co.
Fort Wayne Newspapers operates Fortwayne.com, publishes Fort Wayne Magazine and is the business agent for The Journal Gazette newspaper. The Journal Gazette newsroom operates independently of Fort Wayne Newspapers and Fritz said the new KPC acquisitions will operate separately and independently from The Journal Gazette.
The sale is expected to close later this month.
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