Sample News Group purchases Rutland Herald

Vermont’s Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers are being sold to Sample News Group, a newspaper company that owns the Eagle Times of Claremont and The Message for the Week in Chester, Vermont.

www.eagletimes.com

www.rutlandherald.com

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A year ago, Herald reporter Susan Smallheer, who worked out of Springfield, was reassigned to cover Rutland County. Since then, hardly any news stories about Springfield have have been published in the Rutland Herald.

Past related articles:

2017 - Herald retrenches as part of staff, payment overhaul

2016 - Making the case for local newspapers

2010 - Rutland Herald ends free online access to news stories

Sample News Group purchases Rutland Herald | March 23, 2018

CLAREMONT — Vermont’s Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers are being sold to Sample News Group, a newspaper company that owns the Eagle Times of Claremont and The Message for the Week in Chester, Vermont. The company will purchase the papers from Vermont Community Media, a partnership of businessmen Chip Harris of New Hampshire and Reade Brower of Maine. George Sample is publisher of the Eagle Times, which was bought out of bankruptcy in 2009, along with several weekly newspapers in New Hampshire and Vermont. The Claremont papers and the Herald / Times Argus papers have some contiguous distribution areas. The sale includes the Herald, Times Argus, two weekly newspapers and associated websites operated by Vermont Community Media. The sale is expected to close in late March. Terms of the sale were not released. Sample operates more than 70 daily and weekly newspapers in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and New England. The Herald and Times Argus were purchased from the Mitchell family in September 2016 by Brower and Harris. The pair stepped in to stabilize the papers, which were facing financial difficulty at the time of the sale. “We want to thank the staff of the Herald and Times Argus for their hard work in restoring the newspapers’ stability and solid financial condition,” said Harris, who is a co-founder and former owner of Upper Valley Press in North Haverill, which prints the Herald and Times Argus. “Their efforts ensured and continue to ensure that the papers will carry on their service to the communities.” “There is opportunity for the Vermont papers by finding synergies in combining forces with Claremont.” said Brower, who owns four daily newspapers and multiple weeklies in Maine. “We had a good run with these papers, and we’re happy to leave them in good shape and in good hands.” The Rutland Herald began publication in 1794, making it one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the United States, and the Times Argus began publishing as the Argus & Patriot in 1863, before going daily in 1897 as the Montpelier Evening Argus. In 1959, the Argus was bought by the Barre Daily Times, founded in 1897, and the two papers merged operation. The Mitchells purchased the Herald in 1947 and the Times Argus in 1964.