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Swift Communications

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Swift Communications Inc. is an American digital marketing and newspaper publishing company based in Carson City, Nevada. Swift's primary markets are resort town tabloid newspapers and websites as well as agricultural publications. Swift Communications pioneered digital paywalls for newspaper websites, now an industry norm, long before its peers.[1]

History

Swift Newspapers was founded by Philip Swift in 1975. Swift, a former executive at the Scripps League of Newspapers, exchanged his equity interests in the company for ownership of two daily newspapers. After dozens of acquisitions and mergers over the years, Swift amassed a large number of print publications and in 1991 the company began concentrating on the resort sector by launching Tahoe.com and Reno.com. In 2006, the company changed their name to Swift Communications.[2] Swift also prints advertorials, catalogs, realtor magazines and phone book advertising.[3]

Media properties

Publications

  • Nebraska Fence Post
  • Tahoe Daily Tribune
  • Farmer & Rancher Exchange
  • Tri-State Livestock News

Newspaper sales, closures & cutbacks

In late 2008, Colorado Mountain News Media, a subsidiary of Swift, reduced their staff by 20% through attrition, retirement & layoffs, shuttering numerous small town papers.[6] Swift has consolidated many newspapers and closed many others:[7][8][9][10][11]

  • Summit County Journal in Frisco, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Leadville Chronicle in Leadville, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Northern Colorado Tribune (no longer published)
  • La Tribuna in Greeley, Colorado (no longer published) was named "best weekly in the country" in 2006[12] but was merged with the now defunct Greeley Now newspaper for not being "economically viable" in early 2008.[13]
  • Windsor Tribune in Windsor, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Grand Junction Free Press in Grand Junction, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Vail Trail in Vail, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Valley Journal in Carbondale, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Fort Collins Now (formerly Fort Collins Weekly) in Fort Collins, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Middle Park Times in Kremmling, Colorado (no longer published)
  • Tahoe World in Lake Tahoe, California (no longer published)
  • The News-Review was sold to Lotus Media Group in 2015.[14]
  • The Nevada Appeal, the Lahontan Valley News, The Record-Courier and Northern Nevada Business View were sold to Pacific Publishing Company in 2019.
  • Greeley Tribune was sold to MediaNews Group (MNG) in 2020.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tzuo, Tien. "Paywall 2.0 The Reinvention Of Media". Slideshare. Slideshare/. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Who Owns the News Media". The state of the News Media. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  3. ^ "Swift Communication Inc. Snapshot". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  4. ^ Campbell, Renee (June 17, 2016). "Craig Daily Press has new owners". Craig Daily Press. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  5. ^ "Aspen Times owner acquires papers in Craig and Steamboat". Aspen Times. June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Webb, Dennis (2011-12-30). "Owner cutting staff at several newspapers, including Free Press". newspaperlayoffs.com. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  7. ^ Williams, David O. (2009-02-28). "Community papers struggling: Vail Daily cuts staff to 2002 levels". Colorado Independent. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  8. ^ "Colorado Mountain News Media Regional Marketing Solutions". www.swiftcom.com. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  9. ^ "Colorado Newspapers by City". www.mondotimes.com. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  10. ^ "Owner cutting staff at several newspapers including Free Press". Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  11. ^ "Western Slope newspapers cut staff". Denver Business Journal. 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  12. ^ "La Tribuna named best weekly in the country". Greeley Tribune. 2006-10-15. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  13. ^ "Spanish paper La Tribuna to merge with Greeley Now". Greeley Tribune. 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  14. ^ World, The. "Roseburg investors buy News-Review". Coos Bay World. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  15. ^ Agnew, Kelly Geary. "Swift Communications sells Greeley Tribune to newspaper operator MediaNews Group". www.postindependent.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.