Paxton Media Group acquires Kentucky New Era

The Kentucky New Era Group has sold its daily newspaper in Hopkinsville and four non-daily newspapers to Paducah-based Paxton Media Group.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented Kentucky New Era Group in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.

Paxton Media, a family-owned company headquartered in Paducah, Ky., owns more than 35 daily newspapers, a television station and numerous weekly publications across Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee. Fourth- and fifth-generation family members manage Paxton Media.

Taylor W. Hayes, publisher-editor of the Kentucky New Era, said it was important to his family to keep it in the commonwealth and pass it on to another family. The media operation had been owned by the Wood/Hayes family 1873.

In addition to the daily Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville, the transaction included the twice-weekly Times Leader in Princeton, the weekly Journal Enterprise in Providence, the weekly Dawson Springs Progress and the weekly Eagle Post. The company also has a contract to publish the official weekly base paper for the Fort Campbell Army Base.

The newspapers will join other Paxton publications in western Kentucky, including the Paducah Sun, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, the Mayfield Messenger and Madisonville Messenger, among others.