Updated at 6:15 p.m.: World Media Enterprises announced Wednesday that it plans to close News & Messenger newspaper, Inside NOVA website and Inside NOVA weekly in December.
The announcement was published this morning in Inside NOVA by Doug Hiemstra, President of World Media Enterprises.
In a phone interview, Hiemstra told Bristow Beat that his company acquired News & Messenger in June from the Richmond-based enterprise, Media General, along with other newspapers they owned and managed. These 60 plus newspapers and news websites were to be run by BH Media, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
However, after reviewing the finances of the individual news outlets, World Media Enterprises decided it would be best to close the News & Messenger, saying that neither the online or print newspaper was profitable.
"From a financial standpoint it was losing money, and was losing money under prior ownership as well," Hiemstra said.
He said his company gave "due diligence" in reviewing the finances of the newspaper, but settled on closure, because, "we could not find any operating scenario in which it would be profitable."
Omaha.com confirmed Hiemstra's assessment that declining readership and loss of profits ultimately led to World Enterprises' decision to fold Prince William County's largest daily newspaper and highest trafficked daily news site.
Terry Kroeger, chairman of World Media, told Omaha.com, “the newspaper is in direct competition with many other publications and, being part of a large metropolitan area, had a tough time finding the sense of community that a community newspaper needs to prosper.”
Kroeger also told Omaha.com that the News & Messenger had been losing money for years, “so what made the most sense was to just cease publication,” said Kroeger, who also serves as president and CEO of the Omaha World-Herald Co.
News & Messenger, which primarily serves Prince William County, had a 10,000 five-day-a-week circulation serving the county's 400,000 residents at time of the acquisition, according World Media Enterprise. While the newspaper’s circulation was in decline over the past decade, they had a prominent online following.
According to Inside NOVA, the News & Messenger was created in 2008, when Potomac News and the Manassas Journal Messenger merged into one enterprise. The Manassas Journal Messenger had formerly been in existence as an independently run newspaper since 1869.
World Media Enterprises, which operates out Richmond, Va, entered News & Messenger into their fold of 63 newspapers and other media publications located in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and Florida. Other news entities acquired from Media General are also being dissolved and a total of 105 positions are being eliminated, 33 belonging to staff of the News & Messenger.
World Media Enterprises said, “Our first thoughts are with our 33 dedicated News & Messenger employees.” Though employees will have to vacate their positions in mid-December, World Media Enterprises said they would be receiving severance packages.
The company also intends to sell the News & Messenger building and parking lot.
“Let me be clear: World Media remains bullish on community newspapers and our ability to publish news and advertising content on a variety of platforms that is useful to our readers and the communities in which they live,” Hiemstra wrote.
On the World Media Enterprise website, they describe their newspapers as “indispensable” to the communities they serve.
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