The Chatham News Publishing Co. made news in October when Mary Little Resch, the publisher and editor of The Chatham News and The Chatham Record, announced the sale of the newspapers to Chatham Media Group LLC, a partnership consisting of two Chatham County business leaders and the former publisher of The Sanford Herald in Lee County.
Resch, who served as the guiding force for the newspapers since the death of her husband Alan – who had served as publisher and editor for more than 40 years – in June 2016, informed her staff of the sales agreement on Oct. 22.
The Chatham News, which primarily serves the Siler City area, has been published since 1924. The Chatham Record, which primarily serves Pittsboro area, was founded in 1878. For nine decades, a Resch has been at the helm of the company.
The buyer, Chatham Media Group LLC, is a partnership formed by Kirk Bradley of Chapel Hill, Chatham resident Chris Ehrenfeld and Bill Horner III of Sanford.
Bradley and Ehrenfeld serve as managing partners of CMG, and Horner serves as publisher and editor of renamed Chatham News + Record.
Horner said the new ownership group recognized the realities and challenges of community journalism and modern newspapering.
“But we also recognize and embrace the role an innovative newspaper can play in building community and providing compelling news coverage,” he said. “We’re serious about local, and it’ll show. I think we also grasp the need to grow the product – print, niche, digital and more – to better reach our audience, and we look forward to sharing our plans for that in the coming weeks and months. We are confident we’ll give the people of Chatham County even more reason to embrace their newspaper.”