''The Santa Clarita Valley Signal'' is a newspaper in

Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, originally founded in 1919. The owners are Richard and Chris Budman. The ''Signal'' covers the city of Santa Clarita and surrounding unincorporated areas in the

Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) is part of the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. The western portion of the valley was part of the Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant. Located in Los Angeles County. The valle ...

, about northwest of downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It covers community news, which includes government and politics, business, elementary, secondary and college education, public safety, features, entertainment and high school and college sports within the Santa Clarita Valley. By 2018, it was the only newspaper serving the city. As at August 2018 it has a circulation of around 8,000. ''The Signal'' has its own editorial board.

History

The paper was founded in 1919 as a weekly, the '' Newhall Signal.'' In 1963, the paper was purchased by

Scott Newhall Scott Newhall (January 21, 1914 – October 26, 1992) was a newspaper editor known for his stewardship of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Early life Scott Newhall was born on January 21, 1914, into the family that owned the Newhall Land and Far ...

, the long-time editor of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

''. (

Newhall, California Newhall is the southernmost and oldest community in the city of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, and Valencia into the city of Santa Clarita, it was an unincorporated area. It wa ...

, had been founded by Newhall's "great-grandfather during the California gold rush." Newhall sold ''The Signal'' in 1978, "but continued to edit /nowiki>the paper/nowiki> until 1988." From 1978 to 2016, the ''Signal'' was owned by

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

-based

Morris Multimedia Morris Multimedia, Inc. is a media company based in Savannah, Georgia, founded in 1970 by Charles H. Morris. Morris Multimedia is the parent company of Morris Newspaper Corporation and Morris Network. The company's offices are in the Oliver St ...

. Led by chairman Charles H. Morris, Morris Multimedia owned the ''Signal'' for thirty-seven years. In January 2016, Morris Multimedia sold ''The Signal'' to Paladin Multimedia Group. Charles F. Champion, the ''Signal''s new president and publisher, said he wanted to "build on the paper's award winning news platform", attract more local advertisements, and increase his audience. At that time the forty editorial, advertising sales, circulation, digital and production departments staff members retained their jobs. Champion's business partners were Gary Sproule, Russ Briley and Ken DePaola. In June 2018, Richard Budman, who had been the ''Signal'''s publisher under Morris Multimedia from 2004 to 2007, and his wife Chris Budman, purchased the ''Signal''. (The Budmans purchased the ''Signal''s Santa Clarita-based parent company Paladin Multimedia Group in an equity purchase.) Tim Whyte, who had worked with Budman as the ''Signal''s general manager until 2007, returned as editor-in-chief in 2018. Whyte writes all the editorials for the daily. In 2018, along with the five-day edition, the ''Signal'' began to publish a new Sunday magazine with free distribution to 75,000 households, featuring a "bylined column" entitled "Black and Whyte" by Whyte.

Controversy

According to an October 9, 2018 article in the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'' (CJR), the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the ''Proclaimer''. According to a July 24, 2018 article in ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'', the Budmans have espoused conspiracy theories and promoted the Republican Party in the valley. Richard Budman defended himself against allegations that the couple's politics could influence the newspaper's editorial stance, stating that the newspaper ran positive stories on

Katie Hill Katherine Lauren Hill (born August 25, 1987) is an American former politician and social services administrator from Agua Dulce, California. She is the Chief executive officer, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services and a member of the Los Angel ...

, then a Democratic congressional candidate.

References

External links

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Paladin Multimedia Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Clarita Valley Signal Daily newspapers published in California Santa Clarita, California Newspapers published in California