The Vindicator, Youngstown’s only daily newspaper, announced Friday that is has reached an agreement with the Tribune Chronicle to continuing producing an edition of The Vindicator.
As The Ohio Star reported in June, The Vindicator revealed that it would be closing its doors after 150 years of production. The paper’s ownership said that it had spent most of the year looking for a buyer, but the search was unsuccessful.
“We did everything we could to increase revenue, including raising the price of the newspaper, and to drive advertising revenue into the paper and website,” the owners said.
Mark Brown, general manager of The Vindicator, has now announced that the paper has sold its subscription list, masthead and website domain to the Tribune Chronicle, which will begin producing a print edition called The Vindicator on September 1. Since the company purchased The Vindicator domain, it’s likely that the paper will maintain an online presence as well.
According to a press release, the agreement “clears the way for the Tribune Chronicle to produce an edition under the name of The Vindicator and the Tribune Chronicle has agreed to provide a newspaper for the remainder of the unexpired term for all subscribers of The Vindicator.”
The new edition of The Vindicator will still be geared towards providing news for residents of the Mahoning Valley, and will include many similar featured stories. While Charles Jarvis, publisher of the Tribune Chronicle, said they plan to contract with as many current Vindicator carriers as possible, he warned that the transition could get bumpy.
“If there are some missed deliveries in the first few days, we hope the subscribers will let us know and give us the opportunity to fix the problems. We have always been committed to excellent customer service,” Jarvis said.
He said the Tribune Chronicle is “extremely happy and honored to preserve the long-respected name of the newspaper” and has been looking to expand its coverage of the Mahoning Valley since The Vindicator announced its closure.
“We look forward to delivering approximately 30,000 of the new Vindicator editions to the people who have supported The Vindicator through the years and have developed a printed newspaper reading habit,” he added.
Brown said the agreement will provide subscribers of The Vindicator “with continued delivery of a daily print newspaper focused on their communities.”
“We are very happy to be able to provide our readers with a daily print newspaper from a family-owned company. The Nutting family and Ogden Newspapers have been in the publishing business since 1890,” he continued.
Jarvis concluded by saying the Tribune Chronicle is “committed to publishing a newspaper for Mahoning County that will give the community a strong voice.”
“While we could never fully replace the great work done by The Vindicator’s publisher, management and staff, we believe we will produce a really good newspaper as a replacement—one that the community can be proud of,” he said.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “The Vindicator” by the Vindicator.
