Staff Report
WHEELING, W.Va. — The Charleston Gazette-Mail on Monday announced it would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and that The Ogden Newspapers Inc. has emerged as the high bidder for the company.
The Gazette-Mail plans to file for bankruptcy Tuesday, officials with the newspaper said.
“We’re extremely proud to be the prospective publisher of the Charleston Gazette-Mail,” said Robert Nutting, president and CEO of the Ogden Newspapers. “We have a high level of respect for the newspaper’s proud heritage and realize it has served for many years as an extremely important institution in the state of West Virginia. We firmly believe in the importance of community-based journalism, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with the excellent team of journalists and professionals at the Gazette-Mail.”
The Ogden Newspapers has a strong history in West Virginia. The company, founded in 1890 by H.C. Ogden, publishes daily newspapers in Wheeling, Parkersburg, Martinsburg, Weirton and Elkins. The Intelligencer, based in Wheeling, is West Virginia’s oldest newspaper, founded on Aug. 24, 1852, and was instrumental in advocating for the state’s formation.
“We are proud of the newspapers that we publish in West Virginia,” Nutting said. “We have the largest news organizations in each of our communities and currently employ more than 70 journalists throughout West Virginia.”
The Gazette-Mail is owned by the Chilton family. Charleston had been a two-newspaper town with the Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail until 2015, when the two publications merged.
