Maysville Kentucky Blog

The Maysville Kentucky Blog is your guide to the beautiful and historic small town of Maysville Kentucky, snuggled into the rolling hills along the Ohio River. Though this blog has been discontinued, you can get your Maysville Kentucky fix over at Ken Downing's Mason County Kentucky Blog @ http://masoncountyky.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Maysville's Newspaper

The history of newspapers anywhere in the United States is one of mergers and acquisitions and Maysville Kentucky's Ledger Independent follows the same genetic code. The Ledger Independent was first published on October 1, 1968, after a consolidation of two daily newspapers, The Public Ledger and The Daily Independent. The Public Ledger was first published in 1892, bringing the time line of our local paper to just under 115 years. Both newspapers were family owned until the purchase in 1968, after which they were published under a newly formed Maysville Publishing Corporation.

A merger here and and a merger there and in 2002, the Ledger Independent came under the wing of Lee Enterprises, Inc., based out of Davenport, Iowa. Lee Enterprises is a media company that publishes 58 daily newspapers in 23 states, and 300 or so speciality publications. They are currently the fourth largest newspaper group in the United States.

Tied closely into their operations is the online version of their newspapers. Lee Enterprises is the majority (close to 83%) stakeholder in TownNews.com, an Internet company that runs the back-end of more than 1,500 newspaper web sites. The Ledger Independent's web site is, of course, www.maysville-online.com

If you want to own a copy of the Ledger Independent, you can get a subscription or drop 50 cents in a vending machine. If you want to own a part of the company behind them, it's LEE on the NYSE, currently trading at 28.97 a share

Bob Hendrickson is the current publisher of the Ledger Independent and holds offices in the newly built $2 million Ledger Independent building downtown (completed in 2004). He began his career at the Ledger as a reporter in 1978.

posted at 12:29 PM by Jeremy Parnell   respond to this post   email post to friend   permanent link: Maysville's Newspaper   print post

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