Swift Communications Explained

Swift Communications
Headquarters:200 Lindbergh Dr, Gypsum, CO 81637
Founded:1975
Founder:Philip Swift
Owner:Ogden Newspapers

Swift Communications Inc. is an American digital marketing and newspaper publishing company based in Carson City, Nevada. Swift's primary markets are resort town tabloid newspapers and websites as well as agricultural publications. Swift Communications has been noted for "being outside of the mainstream"[1] and "drawing national attention inside the industry"[2] for disabling commenting and implementing paywalls on most of its online newspaper's websites.[3] Many of Swift's newspapers are heavily composed of paid advertorial "sponsored content".

History

Swift Newspapers was founded by Philip Swift in 1975. Swift, a former executive at the Scripps League of Newspapers, exchanged his equity interests in the company for ownership of two daily newspapers. After dozens of acquisitions and mergers over the years, Swift amassed a large number of print publications and in 1991 the company began concentrating on the resort sector by launching Tahoe.com and Reno.com. In 2006, the company changed their name to Swift Communications.[4] Swift also prints advertorials, catalogs, realtor magazines and phone book advertising.[5]

Swift decisions draw industry attention

In November 2009 Bob Berwyn, a journalist for the Summit Daily News (SDN), wrote a column which criticized the marketing practices of Vail Resorts, one of the paper's largest advertisers. He left the SDN shortly after the writing the article for reasons unrelated to the column. This action was widely derided in the Colorado media.[6] [7]

In May, 2011 after gathering analytics, metrics and revenue data on their commenting platform investment, Swift reviewed the data and decided to remove the user-generated content (UGC) platform Pluck from all online newspapers owned by Swift Communications. The ability for readers to leave comments about articles was removed. Editors with Swift felt the inability of their content management software to restrict comments they did not approve of was impacting newsroom productivity and civil community conversation.[8] [9] [10]

Anthony Collebrusco from the Digital News Test Kitchen at CU-Boulder's School of Journalism & Mass Communication which is involved in researching a viable means of limiting the pseudonymity and unconditional free speech of commenters on Swift's websites paraphrased Swift's policy as:

In Fall of 2011, the Aspen Times re-enabled onymous commenting for users with an active Facebook account.[2]

Swift Communications has been accused of stifling competition and setting artificially inflated ad rates by consolidating and closing small-town newspapers.[11] Steve Lipsher, former editor of the Summit Daily News said in 2008 that "If you're an advertiser in places like Summit County, they're the only game in town" [12] and in 2009, Swift-owned newspapers had 90% market share in Eagle County. Swift has also been criticized for over-charging for obituary listings.[13]

Sale of the Company

On December 31, 2021, Swift Communications was acquired by Ogden Newspapers, a Wheeling, West Virginia-based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and shoppers guides throughout 18 states.[14]

Media properties

Publications

Newspaper sales, closures & cutbacks

In late 2008, Colorado Mountain News Media, a subsidiary of Swift, reduced their staff by 20% through attrition, retirement & layoffs, shuttering numerous small town papers.[18] Swift has consolidated many newspapers and closed many others:[19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Collebrusco . Anthony . 'No comment': Swift newspaper websites keeping user comments turned off . Digital News Test Kitchen . 2012-11-14.
  2. Web site: Aspen Times online comments return . Aspen Times . 2011-10-21 . 2012-11-14.
  3. News: Greeley Tribune, other Swift papers, erecting paywalls . Tomasic, John . Colorado Independent . 2008-09-21 . 2012-11-14.
  4. Web site: Who Owns the News Media . The state of the News Media . 2012-11-14.
  5. Web site: Swift Communication Inc. Snapshot . https://web.archive.org/web/20121015220637/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1051111 . dead . October 15, 2012 . Bloomberg Businessweek . 2012-11-14.
  6. Web site: Carr . David . Mountain Media Takes Nasty Spill After Confrontation with Vail Resorts . Media Decoder - New York Times . 2009-12-15 . 2012-11-14.
  7. Web site: Hooper . Troy . Reporter: I was fired for taking on the ski industry . Aspen Daily News . 2009-12-12 . 2012-11-14.
  8. Web site: Bangert . Randy . Web comments for The Tribune take a holiday. Greeley Tribune . 2011-04-30 . 2012-11-14.
  9. Web site: Collebrusco . Anthony . Civil comments for news websites . Digital News Test Kitchen . 2011-11-14 . dead . https://archive.today/20120716221901/http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/projects/current-projects/civil-comments-for-news-websites/ . 2012-07-16.
  10. Web site: Outing . Steve . #$^&%#@) it! … Keep it civil, commenters! . Digital News Test Kitchen . 2012-11-14 . dead . https://archive.today/20120714153834/http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/2011/06/keep-it-civil-commenters/ . 2012-07-14.
  11. News: Mountain McPapers slurp up competition . Williams, David O. . Colorado Independent . 2008-06-08 . 2012-11-14.
  12. News: Ed Stein Moves Out of "Denver Square" . Roberts, Michael . Denver Westword News . 2008-05-22 . 2 . 2012-11-14.
  13. News: Your Not So "Local Newspaper" . Courant, James . Greeley Gazette . 2010-06-05 . 2012-11-14.
  14. Web site: Parent company of Vail Daily sells to Ogden Newspapers.
  15. Web site: Craig Daily Press has new owners. Campbell. Renee. June 17, 2016. Craig Daily Press. June 17, 2016.
  16. Web site: Henry . Peter . Digital Marketing . 1 September 2022.
  17. Web site: Aspen Times owner acquires papers in Craig and Steamboat . June 17, 2016. Aspen Times. June 17, 2016.
  18. Web site: Webb . Dennis . Owner cutting staff at several newspapers, including Free Press . newspaperlayoffs.com . 2011-12-30 . 2012-11-14.
  19. News: Community papers struggling: Vail Daily cuts staff to 2002 levels . Williams, David O. . Colorado Independent . 2009-02-28 . 2012-11-14.
  20. Web site: Colorado Mountain News Media Regional Marketing Solutions . www.swiftcom.com . 2012-11-14.
  21. Web site: Colorado Newspapers by City . www.mondotimes.com . 2012-11-14.
  22. News: Owner cutting staff at several newspapers including Free Press. 2008-12-31. Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. 2012-11-14.
  23. News: Western Slope newspapers cut staff. 2008-12-31. Denver Business Journal. 2012-11-14.
  24. Web site: La Tribuna named best weekly in the country . Greeley Tribune . 2006-10-15 . 2012-11-14.
  25. Web site: Spanish paper La Tribuna to merge with Greeley Now . Greeley Tribune . 2008-01-29 . 2012-11-14.
  26. Web site: Roseburg investors buy News-Review. World. The. Coos Bay World. en. 2019-02-02.
  27. Web site: FAQs for Transfer of Ownership of the Nevada Appeal, the Record-Courier, Lahontan Valley News and the Northern Nevada Business View.
  28. Web site: Swift Communications sells Greeley Tribune to newspaper operator MediaNews Group. Agnew. Kelly Geary. www.postindependent.com. en-US. 2020-02-25.
  29. Web site: navigaimport . The Union sold to Gold Hill California Media . 2023-03-29 . The Union . en.
  30. Web site: 2023-03-28 . Tatiana and Matthew Prince set to acquire the 143-year-old Park Record newspaper . 2023-03-29 . www.parkrecord.com . en-US.
  31. Web site: Malatesta . Parker . 2023-03-28 . Park City billionaire purchases Park Record newspaper . 2023-03-29 . The Salt Lake Tribune . en-US.

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