CNG Acquisition Means Less Local News For Bay Ridge and Sunset Park
BAY RIDGE – On September 7, 2018, Schneps Communications bought Community News Group and associated properties, making them the largest owner of community weeklies in the city. This comes on the heels of Schneps having sold Brooklyn Reporter to the Brooklyn Eagle in May of 2018. They had shed Brokelyn even faster from the acquisition of Blank Slate (publisher of Brownstoner) in February of 2017.
A non-compete from the Brooklyn Reporter sale bars the new entity from covering the same ground as their old paper, Josh Schneps confirmed.
All this just means that Bay Ridge and Sunset Park will have fewer reporters covering the area, at least for a good while.
It’s a sad day to learn that the Bay Ridge Courier has been suspended for an indefinite period of time following the sale of the @brooklyndaily to Schneps Communications. We are now down to *one* specifically Bay Ridge focused local paper, versus three not so long ago. pic.twitter.com/GgCXlizfay
— Radio Free Bay Ridge (@RadioFreeBR) September 14, 2018
The Atlantic took a look at Brooklyn’s news ecosystem last week, and it is a sobering read – “Who’s Left Covering Brooklyn With the Big Newspapers in Retreat?”.