Greenspun shuttering two papers

The Greenspun Media Group empire continued to shrink Wednesday with the announcement that the company is suspending publication of two Southern Nevada weekly community newspapers, the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News.

The newspapers laid off up to 22 people because of the closures, an industry source said.

The news follows Tuesday's report that Greenspun has pulled the plug on its "News One at 9" broadcast on Las Vegas One television channel and last week's cancellation of 702.tv, a Las Vegas-based news and entertainment video Web site.

The Boulder City News was established in 1937, the year after the Hoover Dam was completed, and has a circulation of 7,500, according to the Nevada Press Association. Henderson Home News was started in 1951, and has 27,600 subscribers.

Both publications are owned by Greenspun Media, a family business founded by the late Hank Greenspun more than 60 years ago.

The company cut back its Home News editions in February when it dropped its Summerlin and Silverado Ranch editions, and laid off about nine employees.

The company also published the Southwest Home News and Green Valley Home News.

"Given the present environment, we sadly have no choice but to take a break from the community newspaper business," Bruce Deifik, president of Greenspun Corp., said in a company statement. "We apologize to our communities for the suddenness of this news, and we hope our many loyal readers will now turn to our Web sites and our other outstanding publications for their news needs."

Calls to Tim O'Callaghan, the former co-publisher of the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News, were not returned. He's the son of the late Mike O'Callaghan, former Nevada governor and publisher of Henderson Home News and Boulder City News.

O'Callaghan gave up his financial stake in the community papers this summer.

While scaling back its local newspaper enterprise, Greenspun will continue to deliver local news content through its LasVegasSun.com Web site, affiliated interactive media and other regional publications, Deifik said.

A spokeswoman for Kirvin Doak Communications, which is handling public relations for Greenspun Media, said company officials would not comment beyond the prepared statement.

Dianna Fyke, 43-year resident of Henderson and longtime subscriber to the Home News, said she would be "very disappointed" to lose her hometown paper.

She doesn't get the Las Vegas Review-Journal or Las Vegas Sun and occasionally goes to the newspapers' Web sites, but said she has "more faith" in the community paper.

"What's essential to me is local information about my city and schools and sports in the high schools," Fyke said. "I think we'll lose the hometown culture we have here in Henderson. We strive as a community to keep that culture and the Home News was one of those anchors."

Henderson Chamber of Commerce chairman Kirk Clauson subscribes to both the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Henderson Home News.

"It's a shame," he said of the Home News' demise. "Whether it's that publication or the Anthem News that comes in the R-J, they all fill a role. It's very targeted information. If your kid goes to high school here -- our kid played baseball at Coronado -- you get a little more detail and more pictures.

"From the Chamber's perspective, I'd look at it as the loss of one more source of information and one more way to get the word out on opportunities within the business community and social activity," Clauson said.

Smaller community newspapers have generally been able to sustain their business model at a time when metropolitan papers are dying and putting more resources into Web sites, Nevada Press Association executive director Barry Smith said.

"It's tough economic times and when you're a newspaper depending on advertising and other businesses to keep you going, it's tough," Smith said. "Ad sales haven't come back around and the revenue is just not there. The only way to stay afloat is to cut back."

Fletcher Whitwell of R&R Partners advertising firm in Las Vegas said the newspaper industry is going through a "vicious cycle" of increased costs and declining revenue.

Subscriptions usually account for about one-fourth of newspaper revenue and they've been steadily declining over the past few years. To offset those losses, newspapers have increased advertising rates beyond what the market can bear in some cases, he said.

"The other part is because costs are up with printing and fuel and postage and shipping and ad revenue is down pretty much across the board, you have to get into cost-cutting measures," Whitwell said. "You can only cut expenses so far and then it's the staff. Sometimes there's duplication of staff."

Greenspun publishes the Las Vegas Sun in a joint operating agreement with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Other Greenspun print holdings include Las Vegas Magazine, Las Vegas Weekly, Vegas Magazine and In Business Las Vegas, along with the Niche Media group of 12 lifestyle magazines. The Greenspun family also owns Vegas.com and has a substantial interest in KTUD-TV Channel 14.

The state of the newspaper industry is changing rapidly and nobody knows what's going to come out of it, Smith of Nevada Press Association said.

"There's still hunger for local news. That hasn't changed a bit, just the way to deliver it and make money at it," he said.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.