{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T23:26:38Z","timestamp":1777937198951,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]],"date-time":"2022-03-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648080000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Local newspapers are increasingly subject to predatory corporate acquisition\u2014corporate takeovers in which media conglomerates purchase publications in financially precarious states, drastically cut staff, and in certain cases consolidate newsroom operations. We investigate how this practice alters the information environment of 31 corporate-owned local newspapers across over 130,000 articles. Formalizing local information across three dimensions, we find (a) that corporate acquisition is associated with a reduction in the volume of local content produced, (b) that the coverage of local places following acquisition is significantly more concentrated than prior to acquisition, and (c) that articles produced to be shared across regional hubs of corporate-owned publications are significantly less local\u2014and discursively more national\u2014than articles produced for a single local market. Our findings identify reductions in newsroom resources and regional hubs of publications as detrimental to the information environment of local communities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14614448221079030","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,25]],"date-time":"2022-03-25T02:46:27Z","timestamp":1648176387000},"page":"2189-2212","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Buying the news: A quantitative study of the effects of corporate acquisition on local news"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9383-5602","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Benjamin","family":"LeBrun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"McGill University, Canada"}]},{"given":"Kaitlyn","family":"Todd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"McGill University, Canada"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Piper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"McGill University, Canada"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Abbruzzese J, Atkinson C (2018) New York Daily News cuts half of its staff. NBC News, 23 July. Available at: https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/business\/business-news\/new-york-daily-news-cuts-half-its-staff-n893631 (accessed 26 October 2021)."},{"key":"bibr2-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Abernathy PM (2018) The expanding news desert. Technical report, Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, School of Media and Journalism, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC."},{"key":"bibr3-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Abernathy PM (2020) News deserts and ghost newspapers: will local news survive. Technical report, Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, School of Media and Journalism, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC."},{"key":"bibr4-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Buchanan C (2009a) A changing sense of place in Canadian daily newspapers: 1894\u20132005. PhD Thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada."},{"key":"bibr5-14614448221079030","first-page":"62","volume":"4","author":"Buchanan C","year":"2009","journal-title":"The Journal of Media Geography"},{"key":"bibr6-14614448221079030","first-page":"1","volume":"4","author":"Chang K","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Cultural Analytics"},{"key":"bibr7-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Coppins M (2021) A secretive hedge fund is gutting newsrooms. The Atlantic, 14 October. Available at: https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2021\/11\/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers\/620171\/ (accessed 26 October 2021)."},{"key":"bibr8-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Degaetano-Ortlieb S, Teich E (2018) Using relative entropy for detection and analysis of periods of diachronic linguistic change. In: Proceedings of the second joint SIGHUM workshop on computational linguistics for cultural heritage, social sciences, humanities and literature, pp. 22\u201333. Available at: https:\/\/aclanthology.org\/W18-4503\/"},{"key":"bibr9-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Degaetano-Ortlieb S, Kermes H, Khamis A, et al. (2018) An information-theoretic approach to modeling diachronic change in scientific English. In: From Data to Evidence in English Language Research. Brill, pp. 258\u2013281. Available at: https:\/\/brill.com\/view\/book\/edcoll\/9789004390652\/BP000014.xml#:~:text=We%20present%20an%20information%2Dtheoreticdiachronic%20change%20in%20scientific%20English.&text=We%20use%20information%2Dtheoretic%20measures,are%20involved%20in%20diachronic%20change"},{"key":"bibr10-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0251704"},{"key":"bibr11-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Farhi P, Izadi E (2021) Tribune publishing, owner of major U.S. newspapers, to be acquired by hedge fund known for slashing newsroom jobs. The Washington Post, 16 February. Available at: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/media\/tribune-publishing-owner-of-major-us-newspapers-acquired-by-hedge-fund-known-for-slashing-newsroom-jobs\/2021\/02\/16\/e732ea28-70b1-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2story (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr12-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Feuer A (2015) The daily news layoffs and digital shift may signal the tabloid era\u2019s end. The New York Times, 27 September. Available at: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/09\/28\/nyregion\/the-daily-news-layoffs-and-digital-shift-may-signal-the-tabloid-eras-end.html (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr13-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444812458433"},{"key":"bibr14-14614448221079030","volume-title":"Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective","author":"Halliday MAK","year":"2011"},{"key":"bibr15-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/694105"},{"key":"bibr16-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Izadi E, Ellison S (2021) Tribune shareholders vote to sell legendary chain of newspapers to a hedge fund. The Washington Post, 21 May. Available at: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/media\/2021\/05\/21\/tribune-sale-alden-hedge-fund\/ (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr17-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10746-011-9175-z"},{"issue":"1","key":"bibr18-14614448221079030","first-page":"74","volume":"18","author":"Lindgren A","year":"2009","journal-title":"Canadian Journal of Urban Research"},{"key":"bibr19-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003055418000965"},{"key":"bibr20-14614448221079030","first-page":"16","volume-title":"Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems","author":"Naderi N","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr21-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/17512786.2016.1146625"},{"key":"bibr22-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Noe-Payne M (2020) She\u2019s a one-person newsroom, but lee enterprises kept cutting. Wvtf, 8 October. Available at: https:\/\/www.wvtf.org\/post\/she-s-one-person-newsroom-lee-enterprises-kept-cutting (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr23-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/ajps.12560"},{"key":"bibr24-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226568898.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr25-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18653\/v1\/2020.acl-demos.14"},{"key":"bibr26-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Reynolds J (2019) Hedge fund-owned newspaper group outsources design abroad, chasing higher dividends. The Intercept, 11 October. Available at: https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/10\/11\/digital-first-media-layoffs-outsourcing\/ (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr27-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/08997764.2013.785553"},{"key":"bibr28-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10584609.2012.762817"},{"key":"bibr29-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x"},{"key":"bibr30-14614448221079030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444812455148"},{"key":"bibr31-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Sullivan M (2018) Perspective: is this strip-mining or journalism? \u201cSobs, gasps, expletives\u201d over latest Denver Post layoffs. The Washington Post, 15 March. Available at: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/is-this-strip-mining-or-journalism-sobs-gasps-expletives-over-latest-denver-post-layoffs\/2018\/03\/15\/d05abc5a-287e-11e8-874b-d517e912f125story (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr32-14614448221079030","unstructured":"The Denver Post Editorial Board (2018) Editorial: as vultures circle, the Denver Post must be saved. The Denver Post, 6 April. Available at: https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/04\/06\/as-vultures-circle-the-denver-post-must-be-saved\/ (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr33-14614448221079030","unstructured":"The Future Today Institute (2020) Continued media consolidation. Available at: https:\/\/futuretodayinstitute.com\/trend\/continued-media-consolidation (accessed 3 July 2021)."},{"key":"bibr34-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Walker M (2021) U.S. newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008. Available at: https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2021\/07\/13\/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-fallen-26-since-2008\/ (accessed 25 October 2021)."},{"key":"bibr35-14614448221079030","unstructured":"Wick J (2017) The curious sale of the \u201cLa Weekly\u201d saga explained. Bloomberg, 7 December. Available at: https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-12-07\/the-curious-sale-of-the-la-weekly-saga-explained (accessed 3 July 2021)."}],"container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/14614448221079030","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/14614448221079030","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/14614448221079030","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T03:54:30Z","timestamp":1777694070000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/14614448221079030"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/14614448221079030"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/14614448221079030","relation":{},"ISSN":["1461-4448","1461-7315"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1461-4448","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7315","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]]}}}