Alaska News

Publishers of Anchorage Daily News will buy 3 Morris publications in Alaska

The company that owns the Anchorage Daily News is purchasing three Alaska publications from Morris Communications Inc., the companies announced Monday.

The Binkley Company is buying the weekly Alaska Journal of Commerce, the weekly Chugiak-Eagle River Star and the monthly Alaskan Equipment Trader, the Binkley Company and Morris said in a joint statement. The sale is scheduled to close Feb. 23. The sale price was not disclosed.

No immediate changes in the publications are planned, said Daily News co-publisher Ryan Binkley.

"These three papers occupy important spaces in the Alaska media landscape," Binkley said in the statement. "We are excited by the opportunity to add new areas of coverage and new audiences, and to realize the efficiencies that are possible when smaller newspapers are part of a larger group."

Last year, other Morris newspapers in Alaska — the Juneau Empire, the Peninsula Clarion and Homer News — were sold to the national group GateHouse Media, along with nine other Morris newspapers nationwide.

The Binkley Company bought the Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper and news website, last year after the company filed for bankruptcy protection under its previous owner, Alice Rogoff. Last fall, the Daily News reduced staff and outsourced printing of the newspaper to contain costs.

ADVERTISEMENT