Barrow newspapers to merge

Mainstreet Newspapers acquires Barrow County News

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The Barrow County News, the oldest continually operating business in Barrow County (Ga.), has been acquired by Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc., of Jefferson and will be merged with the Barrow Journal to become a single newspaper and website servicing the people of Barrow County.

The July 31 edition of the Barrow County News was the final publication under the ownership of Swartz-Morris Media, headquartered in Cumming.  The new combined publication will debut Aug. 3.

Mainstreet Newspapers, Jefferson, is owned by Mike and Scott Buffington, second-generation publishers of the family firm which publishes six weekly newspapers in Northeast Georgia.

The Barrow County News traces its origins to before Barrow County existed.  In 1893, a newspaper called The Jackson Economist opened in Winder, which was then part of Jackson County.

In addition to the Barrow Journal, the Mainstreet Newspapers publishing family includes The Jackson Herald, Commerce News, Braselton News, Banks County News and Madison County Journal.

Charles Hill Morris, regional publisher for Swartz-Morris Media, said Barrow County has been a great community in which to operate a business, but that the combining of the two publications would better serve the overall needs of the community and the newspapers. Swartz-Morris Media had operated the Barrow County News since purchasing it from the New York Times Company in 1994.

Read more from the Barrow County News

Barrow County News, Mainstreet Newspapers, Swartz-Morris Media, Buffington
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