Two months after announcing that City Pulse was on sale, the Lansing paper’s longtime publisher has found a new owner.
Berl Schwartz is selling the alt-weekly to the Michigan Independent Media Group (MIMG).
The group is funded through philanthropic giving and investment capital and aims to preserve and strengthen local journalism in the state. It also recently acquired the Yale Expositor out of Yale, Michigan.
Schwartz says conversations about selling the paper to the new owners began several years ago but fell through because they weren’t ready yet.
"I'm glad this worked out the way it did. It gave me more time to adjust to ultimately not being the one running City Pulse," he said.
He says the new owners plan to add staff and bolster the paper’s digital presence and potentially add new distribution options for readers. But he says its focus on local news and personality won’t change.
"I don't think you're going to pick up City Pulse in a year or two and say what happened to City Pulse."
Buried Lede Media CEO Lonnie Scott, who is a part of the new ownership group, agrees.
"Our goal is for the news piece that everyone has come to trust will not change. You will still see the reporters and the stories that you are accustomed to," Scott said.
Scott says it can be a misconception that all independent, local papers are struggling. Instead, he says there are older publishers choosing to close their outlets because they can't find someone to take them over. That's why the MIMG formed.
"It has never been more important to make sure that local voices are still heard, and that there is still someone that's protecting that local media landscape," he said.
"We're really fighting against news deserts here, and that takes some investment and some risk.
Schwartz will transition to a more advisory role over the next few months as the new owners take over operations.
"This is my life, and I am willing to reinvent myself up to a point, but I've been in full time since 1969, and I really am not sure what I'd do if I didn't have some sort of outlet for that passion," Schwartz said.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Scott about the MIMG's mission and its plans for City Pulse.
Interview Highlights
On the work the Michigan Independent Media Group is doing
The Michigan Independent Media Group is a collaboration of philanthropic and investment capital meant to preserve local news media. So, the whole mission of the organization is to preserve local voices, to fight disinformation and really to make sure that our local media landscape is stable across the state.
On the group's mission
These local papers are actually not closing because they are not profitable or not working. They're closing because the publishers are aging out and want to retire. So, it is a tough environment, but I think there's a lot of misconception about whether or not these local papers can actually survive. And I think the other thing is just the importance of local media. It has never been more important to make sure that local voices are still heard, and that there is still someone that's protecting that local media landscape.
On potential changes to City Pulse
We will have some service enhancements. It's hard for me to name exactly what those will be with City Pulse just because this is all so new, and we're still getting a handle on all of those things, but certainly improvements to the digital infrastructure and those types of things are definitely things that we're looking at. So, our goal is for the news piece that everyone has come to trust will not change. You will still see the reporters and the stories that you are accustomed to.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Lansing's City Pulse paper has a new owner.
In May, the alt-weekly’s longtime publisher and editor Berl Schwartz announced he was looking to sell City Pulse.
Today, he announced the Michigan Independent Media Group would be taking it over.
Buried Lede Media CEO Lonnie Scott will be a part of that team managing operations, and he joins me now. Thank you for being here.
Lonnie Scott: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Saliby: Can we start by explaining what the Michigan Independent Media Group is?
Scott: Yeah, the Michigan Independent Media Group is a collaboration of philanthropic and investment capital meant to preserve local news media. So, the whole mission of the organization is to preserve local voices, to fight disinformation and really to make sure that our local media landscape is stable across the state.
Saliby: In a column written by Schwartz about the sale, he mentioned your group actually began conversations about purchasing City Pulse three years ago, but those negotiations fell through at the time. So, what changed?
Scott: Well, I think it was just City Pulse was the first place that we had talked to based on existing relationships. That was actually before I had officially joined the team. But those conversations were very early and preliminary. And I think folks realized that we needed to do some more research to really do some more work to be ready for this to be a successful venture on both ends.
We're doing this for, really, the civic impacts as well as the prevention of news deserts and making sure that those local voices are preserved.
And so, now the time was right, and we are moving forward. We did close on our first paper back in April, and that was the Yale Expositor in Yale, Michigan, and so, the timing now was just correct in the moment but definitely a project that we've been working on for quite a while.
Saliby: This is a tough landscape for local news, especially for physical media outlets. Why jump into this industry right now?
Scott: Well, I think the reality is that in some of these instances, these local papers are actually not closing because they are not profitable or not working. They're closing because the publishers are aging out and want to retire. So, it is a tough environment, but I think there's a lot of misconception about whether or not these local papers can actually survive.
And I think the other thing is just the importance of local media. It has never been more important to make sure that local voices are still heard, and that there is still someone that's protecting that local media landscape. We're really fighting against news deserts here, and that takes some investment and some risk.
I don't think anyone would say that they went into this thinking that we were going to be media moguls and and make a ton of money. We're doing this for, really, the civic impacts as well as the prevention of news deserts and making sure that those local voices are preserved.
Saliby: I think most people want to know what this change in ownership will mean for the paper. What's going to change when they pick up their copy, and what's not going to change?
We are not coming in like some other conglomerates that come in and try to gut papers, change their focus, make them a mouthpiece for maybe one political party or the other. That's never been our goal.
Scott: It's a great question, and the answer is not going to be as profound as I think people would want. But the reality is, here for the first few months, probably nothing. And that's certainly been the case in Yale, where you pick up a copy of the paper, and you're like, "Oh, this is exactly what I expected it to be." And that's our goal. We are not coming in like some other conglomerates that come in and try to gut papers, change their focus, make them a mouthpiece for maybe one political party or the other. That's never been our goal.
We will have some service enhancements. It's hard for me to name exactly what those will be with City Pulse just because this is all so new, and we're still getting a handle on all of those things, but certainly improvements to the digital infrastructure and those types of things are definitely things that we're looking at.
So, our goal is for the news piece that everyone has come to trust will not change. You will still see the reporters and the stories that you are accustomed to. And really, we're just looking at some service enhancements, not only at City Pulse, but at any of the other properties that we have acquired to really make them all more efficient.
Saliby: Buried Lede Media CEO Lonnie Scott is part of the new ownership group taking over City Pulse in Lansing. Thank you for joining me.
Scott: Thanks so much for having me.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
