Regional Media Begin Centralizing Operations

By Staff

By Staff

Owen Convington of the Triad Business Journal is reporting a local media consolidation in the Triad that could signal where the future is headed for our regions main-stream journalism. BH Media Group which owns both the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal is beginning a process of centralizing operations which could result in the News & Record becoming the regional paper with formally local papers folded inside. The first paper’s who have seen management operations officially head to Greensboro are in Rockingham. According to the Triad Business Journal:

The move follows BH Media Group’s purchase of 63 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Winston-Salem Journal and Rockingham’s Reidsville Review, Eden News and Madison Messenger, from Media General in May 2012. BH Media Group followed that $142 million buy with the purchase of the Greensboro News & Record on Jan. 31 for an undisclosed sum.
Saul was unavailable to comment on Friday, and Journal Publisher Kevin Kampman, who oversees BH Media Group’s properties in North Carolina and the Southeast, declined to comment when asked about the change.
… Those changes are speculation at this point, but it’s expected that BH Media Group, now a major player in the Triad publishing industry, will look for opportunities to consolidate or centralize certain business functions. That could include a regionwide sales staff for advertising or a single hub for back office functions serving multiple newspapers.
The News & Record has long distributed its paper in Rockingham County, at one time including a zoned edition of the paper and a bureau in Eden that had as many as five reporters and an editor. In recent years, however, staffing has decreased sharply; Editor Jeff Gauger recently announced that Brad Kesler would cover the area in the role of “regional reporter.”

You can read the full article HERE.

How these moves will effect how people in Winston-Salem get their local news is yet to be seen. With a strong local television station in WXII and new media such as the Camel City Dispatch becoming available with no subscription fee it will be important for Winston-Salem’s media consumers to stay on top of how they stay informed.  It is also important for consumers to note that one major media conglomerate holds all of the vast majority of the print media cards in the Triad.