The Santa Clarita Valley Signal

History

The paper was founded in 1919 as a weekly, the Newhall Signal.

In 1963, the paper was purchased by Scott Newhall, the long-time editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. (Newhall, California, had been founded by Newhall's "great-grandfather during the California gold rush." Newhall sold The Signal in 1978, "but continued to edit [the paper] until 1988."

From 1978 to 2016, the Signal was owned by Savannah, Georgia-based Morris Multimedia. Led by chairman Charles H. Morris, Morris Multimedia owned the Signal for thirty-seven years.

In January 2016, Morris Multimedia sold The Signal to Paladin Multimedia Group. Charles F. Champion, the Signals new president and publisher, said he wanted to "build on the paper's award winning news platform", attract more local advertisements, and increase his audience. At that time the forty editorial, advertising sales, circulation, digital and production departments staff members retained their jobs. Champion's business partners were Gary Sproule, Russ Briley and Ken DePaola.

In June 2018, Richard Budman, who had been the Signal's publisher under Morris Multimedia from 2004 to 2007, and his wife Chris Budman, purchased the Signal. (The Budmans purchased the Signals Santa Clarita-based parent company Paladin Multimedia Group in an equity purchase.)

Tim Whyte, who had worked with Budman as the Signals general manager until 2007, returned as editor-in-chief in 2018. Whyte writes all the editorials for the daily. In 2018, along with the five-day edition, the Signal began to publish a new Sunday magazine with free distribution to 75,000 households, featuring a "bylined column" entitled "Black and Whyte" by Whyte.

Controversy

According to an October 9, 2018 article in the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the Proclaimer. According to a July 24, 2018 article in The Daily Beast, the Budmans have espoused conspiracy theories and promoted the Republican Party in the valley. Richard Budman defended himself against allegations that the couple's politics could influence the newspaper's editorial stance, stating that the newspaper ran positive stories on Katie Hill, then a Democratic congressional candidate.

References

References

1. "Departments & Staff".
2. Schonbrun, Zach. (5 August 2018). "When a Local Paper Gets New Owners, Partisan Strife Hits Its Doorstep".
3. Saxon, Wolfgang. (October 28, 1992). "Scott Newhall, 78, Newspaper Editor In San Francisco". [[The New York Times]].
4. (December 15, 2015). "Paladin Multi-Media Group to acquire Santa Clarita Valley Signal".
5. Schaff, Jason. (June 2018). "The Signal sold to former publisher". The Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
6. "Former publisher buys The Signal". [[California News Publishers Association]] (CNPA).
7. Aushenker, Michael. (June 8, 2018). "Santa Clarita Valley Signal Sold to Former Publisher". [[San Fernando Valley Business Journal]].
8. Darrach, Amanda. (October 9, 2018). "Both Sides Now: When a California town's newspaper gets troubling new owners, critics start their own". [[Columbia Journalism Review]] (CJR).
9. Frazin, Rachel. (July 24, 2018). "Santa Clarita Valley Signal's New Owners Boosted Far-Right Conspiracies". The Daily Beast.