A Paducah, Kentucky, firm known for chasing profits over local news has given the boot to several publishers — and probably other staffers — at its newly acquired newspapers in North Carolina and Georgia.
Cherokee Scout publisher David Brown was one of those who got the ax, along with Clay County Progress publisher Becky Long.
Rachael Hoskins, longtime publisher of The Franklin Press, will take over at least four of the positions formerly held by four different publishers.
In addition to his current duties, editor Randy Foster — essentially is the only hard news reporter at The Scout — will now have oversight of the news operations added to his duties, according to the release published at the bottom of page 1 of the May 20 edition of the weekly newspaper.
According to its website, Paxton publishes nearly 120 community newspapers in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia. The company also operates WPSD-TV, an NBC affiliated television station in Paducah, Kentucky.
Other publisher posts eliminated by Paxton were Glenn Harbison of The News Observer in Blue Ridge, and an open publisher position at the Times-Courier in Ellijay, Georgia.
Brown had been at The Scout for the past 23 years and presided over the newspaper when it was deemed “the place where American journalism goes to die,” during a national condemnation of the small weekly for its handling of one of its writer’s requests for gun ownership records from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department.
Brown essentially groveled to the sheriff’s department, apologized and withdrew the public record request. The writer soon left the newspaper.