AP to present VoteCast results at AAPOR polling conference 5/14/19

The Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago will present the results of AP VoteCast, the new standard in election research, at the American Association for Public Opinion Research conference in Toronto on Saturday.

AP VoteCast captures the opinions and preferences of voters as they choose who to vote for, along with the reasons behind their decision. Developed with NORC, VoteCast is a modern approach to public opinion research designed to deliver a broad and more accurate picture of the American electorate than ever before.

The presentations at the AAPOR conference, which will be livestreamed, will include a detailed report assessing the success of AP VoteCast's debut in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.

AP and NORC are committed to transparency in conducting AP VoteCast and sharing the results returned by its innovative methodology for peer and academic review.

As part of that commitment, the 2018 AP VoteCast data is now available for download.

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Greenville Daily News to be sold 5/14/19

View Newspaper Group and Michigan Web Press, both owned by Rick Burrough, have agreed to acquire the Greenville (Mich.) Daily News and affiliated Stafford Printing from the Stafford family.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented the Stafford family in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Wilson, Dunn papers form media company 5/14/19

From staff reports (The Wilson Times)

The Daily Record and The Wilson Times, North Carolina's last two family-owned daily newspapers, have forged a strategic partnership and formed a media management company, allowing them to share resources and expertise while remaining independently owned and operated.

Bart and Brent Adams and Maere Kay Lashmit, who own The Daily Record in Dunn, N.C., and Morgan Dickerman, who owns The Wilson Times, have joined forces to create Restoration Newsmedia. The limited-liability company was incorporated and registered with the N.C. Department of the Secretary of State on April 30.

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Courier-Post sold to Quincy Media 5/13/19

The Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post will soon be under new leadership by a family-owned company just up river in Illinois.

GateHouse Media has agreed to sell the publication to Quincy Media Inc., which operates The Herald-Whig and WGEM-TV/Radio. An asset purchase agreement has been signed, and the transition is expected to begin later this summer.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented Quincy Media in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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One newspaper, one website in New Orleans 5/7/19

By Jane Nicholes, SNPA Correspondent

John Georges calls New Orleans a global brand, because of its history and because of its millions of visitors each year from all over the world.

"Our market is not limited to brick and mortar and rooftops. Our market is the global brand of New Orleans," he said.

It's a newspaper and website market now controlled by John and Dathel Georges with their purchase of The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com from Advance Local Media, owned by the Newhouse family. At some point in June, both will be combined with The New Orleans Advocate and advocate.com/new_orleans into one newspaper and one website.

Advocate President Judi Terzotis, an at-large member of the SNPA Board of Directors, said: "The current T-P newspaper will cease publication. The combined paper will carry both logos: The New Orleans Advocate and Times-Picayune. Our New Orleans website will be NOLA.com."

Terzotis also is president of The Advocate in Baton Rouge, which was awarded its first Pulitzer Prize this year for reporting on the racial impacts of Louisiana's unique laws allowing juries to convict defendants without a unanimous verdict. Voters amended the state constitution to require unanimous verdicts in criminal cases.

The purchase price of The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com was not disclosed, but Georges said it was the easiest part of the negotiation. The sale of Times-Picayune assets includes the brand, the website, the news archives, subscriber and advertiser information and the Loving Cup, the city's highest civic honor.

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Seaton Publishing Company goes live with Brainworks publishing solutions 5/7/19

Seaton Publishing Company has gone live with Brainworks Advertising, Finance, CRM, Pagination and Xpance publishing solutions. This go live includes the following publications: The Manhattan Mercury, Junction City Union, 1st Infantry Division Post and Wamego Smoke Signal/The Times, along with their respective websites.

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Wick Communications acquires the Delta County Independent 5/7/19

The 137-year-old Delta County (Colo.) Independent, which has been published by the Sunderland family for more than 30 years, has been sold to Wick Communications, a third-generation family-owned and operated media corporation, of Sierra Vista, Ariz.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented the Sunderland family in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Times-Tribune adjusting with readership, changing publication cycle 5/7/19

Beginning May 21, the Times-Tribune of Corbin, Ky., will change its publication cycle from Monday through Saturday to Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Publisher Bill Hanson announced the change in a column recently in which he noted that that staff has seen significant changes in how and where people obtain news and information, even compared to just a few years ago.

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Can you lend a hand with SNPA contests? 5/6/19

SNPA is seeking volunteers to help judge three SNPA contests.

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A. H. Belo Corporation announces private stock transaction 5/6/19

A. H. Belo Corporation has announced that the company's chief executive officer, Robert W. Decherd, purchased 143,419 shares of A. H. Belo common stock in a private transaction on Friday, May 3. Decherd purchased 100,000 Series B shares at $5 each and 43,419 Series A shares at $4 each.

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