Swift Communications Inc. is an American

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development duri ...

and

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

publishing company based in Carson City, Nevada. Swift's primary markets are resort town

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

newspapers and websites as well as agricultural publications. Swift Communications has been noted for "being outside of the mainstream" and "drawing national attention inside the industry" for disabling commenting and implementing

paywalls A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

on most of its online newspaper's websites. 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. Swift also prints advertorials, catalogs, realtor magazines and phone book advertising.

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. 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. Anthony Collebrusco from the ''Digital News Test Kitchen'' at

CU-Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

's School of Journalism & Mass Communication which is involved in researching a viable means of limiting the pseudonymity and unconditional

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

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 Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

account. Swift Communications has been accused of stifling competition and setting artificially inflated ad rates by consolidating and closing small-town newspapers. 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" and in 2009, Swift-owned newspapers had 90% market share in Eagle County. Swift has also been criticized for over-charging for obituary listings.

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.

Media properties

*''Colorado Mountain News Media'' in Gypsum, Colorado *Wasatch Mountain News Media in Park City, Utah *''The Fencepost Company'' in

Greeley, Colorado Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of 17.12% since the 201 ...

**''Acres USA'' in Austin, Texas **''Countryside Publications'' in Medford, Wisconsin *''Nevada County Publishing Company'' in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento ...

Publications

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

*''Sierra Sun'' *''Tahoe.com'' *'' The Union''

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

*'' Aspen Times'' in Aspen, Colorado *''Craig Press'' in Craig, Colorado *''Citizen Telegram'' in Rifle, Colorado *''Eagle Valley Enterprise'' in Eagle, Colorado *''Fence Post'' in

*''

Glenwood Springs Post Independent The ''Glenwood Springs Post Independent'' is a daily newspaper distributed in Garfield County, Colorado. The publication covers the municipalities of Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, New Castle, Silt, Rifle and Parachute. The ''Glenwood Springs ...

'' in Glenwood Springs, Colorado *''Sky-Hi News'' in Granby, Colorado *'' Steamboat Pilot & Today'' in Steamboat Springs, Colorado *''Snowmass Sun'' in

Snowmass Village, Colorado Snowmass Village is a home rule municipality in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,826 at the 2010 census. A popular winter resort location for skiing and snowboarding, the town is well known as the location of the ...

*''Summit Daily News'' in Frisco, Colorado *'' Vail Daily'' in Vail, Colorado

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

*''Nebraska Fence Post''

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

*''Tahoe Daily Tribune''

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

*''Farmer & Rancher Exchange'' *''Tri-State Livestock News''

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

*''

Park Record The ''Park Record'' is a twice-weekly newspaper published in Park City, Utah. It was founded in 1880 as the ''Park Mining Record'', edited by James Shupback. After two editorial changes, Sam Raddon, formerly with the '' Salt Lake Tribune'', had ...

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. Swift has consolidated many newspapers and closed many others: *''Summit County Journal'' in Frisco, Colorado (no longer published) *''Leadville Chronicle'' in Leadville, Colorado (no longer published) *''Northern Colorado Tribune'' (no longer published) *''La Tribuna'' in

(no longer published) was named "best weekly in the country" in 2006 but was merged with the now defunct ''Greeley Now'' newspaper for not being "economically viable" in early 2008. *''Windsor Tribune'' in

Windsor, Colorado Windsor is a home rule municipality in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 32,716. Windsor is located in the Northern Colorado region. History In 1873, a settl ...

(no longer published) *''Grand Junction Free Press'' in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

(no longer published) *''Vail Trail'' in Vail, Colorado (no longer published) *''Valley Journal'' in

Carbondale, Colorado The Town of Carbondale is a home rule municipality located in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 6,434 at the 2020 United States Census. Carbondale is a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical A ...

(no longer published) *''Fort Collins Now'' (formerly ''Fort Collins Weekly'') in Fort Collins, Colorado (no longer published) *''Middle Park Times'' in Kremmling, Colorado (no longer published) *''Tahoe World'' in Lake Tahoe, California (no longer published) *''

The News-Review ''The News-Review'' is a five-day-a-week community newspaper published in Roseburg, Oregon, United States. The circulation area covers most of Douglas County including Canyonville, Glide, Myrtle Creek, Oakland, Roseburg, Sutherlin, and ...

'' in Roseburg, Oregon was sold to Lotus Media Group in 2015. *The Nevada Appeal, the Lahontan Valley News, The Record-Courier and Northern Nevada Business View were sold to Pacific Publishing Company in 2019. *''Greeley Tribune'' was sold to MediaNews Group (MNG) in 2020.

References

External links

Swift Communications
(official website) {{Swift Communications Newspaper companies of the United States Companies based in Reno, Nevada