Paxton Media Group acquires Mayfield Messenger

Paxton Media Group has acquired the daily Mayfield (Ky.) Messenger from the Haskell family.

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

The Mayfield Messenger, serving Graves County in western Kentucky, is published Monday through Friday with circulation of 3,700.

Paxton Media publishes five other newspapers in the region, including The Paducah Sun in neighboring McCracken County and the Tribune Courier in neighboring Marshall County, as well as newspapers serving Eddyville and Lyon County, Cadiz and Caldwell County, and Metropolis and Massac County.  Paxton Media Group also owns WPSD-TV, serving western Kentucky, southern Illinois, southeast Missouri, and northwest Tennessee.

David Paxton, president and chief executive officer of Paxton Media Group, said, "We are gratified for the opportunity to assume stewardship of the Mayfield Messenger.  It is a good newspaper with a proud history serving an outstanding community.  By combining the strengths of the Mayfield Messenger with other Paxton newspapers in the area, we expect to be able to provide even better service to our readers and advertisers, and to build on the record of success established over many years.  Mayfield deserves its own newspaper, and this business combination provides the financial security needed to assure that the Mayfield Messenger continues to serve the community long into the future.  Paxton Media Group is a family-owned company that has been serving the region since 1896.  We look forward to continuing that service in Mayfield for many more years to come." 

Earlier this year, the Haskell family sold the Martinsville Bulletin, a 12,250-circulation daily newspaper in southwestern Virginia, and a neighboring non-daily newspaper to BH Media Group.