''The Milford Daily News'' is an American

daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

covering

Milford, Massachusetts Milford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,379 according to the 2020 census. First settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1780, Milford became a booming industrial and quarrying community in the 19th ...

, and several nearby towns in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

counties. The newspaper is managed and printed by ''

The MetroWest Daily News ''The MetroWest Daily News'' is an American daily newspaper published in Framingham, Massachusetts, serving the MetroWest region of suburban Boston. The newspaper is owned by Gannett. The newspaper covers several cities and towns in Norfolk, M ...

''. Both are owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

History

From 1977 to 1996, the newspaper was run by

Alta Group Newspapers Alta Group Newspapers Inc. was a newspaper publisher in the northeastern United States, overseeing three daily newspapers and one weekly newspaper before being bought and broken up by Community Newspaper Company in 1996. The company's flagship ...

, a trust established by the Foster and Whitehouse families and managed by

Bank of Boston A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

. The trust also ran daily newspapers in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

, and

Little Falls, New York Little Falls is a city in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 4,605 at the time of the 2020 census, which is the second-smallest city population in the state, ahead of only the city of Sherrill. The city is built on bo ...

, as well as the family's charities. To raise money for other obligations, the trust sold the papers in 1996 to CNC, then part of

Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), owned by FMR LLC and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides financial services. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the ...

. CNC managers, upon their purchase of Alta, said they were most interested in the Milford property, which bordered the coverage area of two CNC dailies—the '' Middlesex News'' and the ''

Dedham Transcript ''The Daily News Transcript'' (formerly known as the ''Dedham Transcript'' and the ''Neponset Valley Daily News'') was a five-day (Monday through Friday) afternoon daily newspaper in Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S., covering the Neponset Valley of N ...

''. Bill Elfers, CNC's CEO, called the Milford paper "an outstanding property"; it had made almost

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5 million in revenues the previous year, accounting for the largest part of Alta's

1 million annual profit.Community Spreads Out, But Are the New Papers Keepers?
NewsInc., December 9, 1996. Accessed August 10, 2007. Terms of the deal were not made public. It was CNC's first foray into newspaper ownership outside

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

; at the time, some speculated that the company would quickly turn around and sell the New York and Maine dailies; Elfers denied these rumors, but within a year, CNC had indeed unloaded the

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

papers. In 2000, Fidelity sold CNC to the publisher of the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

''. The new owner instituted a content-sharing arrangement between CNC and the ''Herald'', resulting in a regular stream of ''Daily News'' stories appearing in the Boston newspaper. That arrangement continued even after the ''Herald'' sold CNC to Liberty Group Publishing (later renamed

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

) in 2006.Gatlin, Greg. "Herald to Sell Suburban Papers". ''Boston Herald'', May 6, 2006.

References

External links

''The Milford Daily News''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milford Daily News Mass media in Worcester County, Massachusetts MetroWest Newspapers published in Massachusetts Milford, Massachusetts Newspapers established in 1887 Gannett publications 1887 establishments in Massachusetts