News Corp. Buys Brooklyn Newspaper Chain
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Although it's hard to find buyers for even small newspapers these days, News Corp (NYSE: NWS). is making an exceptionpicking up The Brooklyn Paper, a local newspaper chain of five free separate editions that mostly focuses on neighborhoods that cater to young professionals and hipsters like Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens. Two years ago, News Corp. picked up another Brooklyn newspaper publisher, Courier-Life, which publishes 12 papers, each focusing on a wider variety of the borough's environs. At the time, Gawker wondered that 31-year-old The Brooklyn Paper had been having difficulty competing against its 45-year-old rival since it was bought by News Corp. At the time, Brooklyn Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman defended the paper's ability to meet the challenge from Rupert Murdoch's company, telling Gothamist then, "Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."
By David Kaplan