The Indiana Publisher

Staff Reports KPC Media Group KPC Media Group, Inc. of Kendallville and Fort Wayne, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Post & Mail of Columbia City, owned by Horizon Newspapers of Marion, Illinois, a subsidiary of the Alberta Newspaper Group of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. KPC Media Group has assumed operations effective Aug. 3, and published the Tuesday, Aug. 3 edi- tion of The Post & Mail The office for the newspaper has been relocated to 148 W. Van Buren Street, Columbia City, in a shared workspace arrangement with the Whitley County Chamber of Commerce. KPC is owned by the George O. Witwer family of Kendallville, and is now the largest independent community newspaper group in Indiana, publishing thirteen news- papers in the Fort Wayne market. Terry Householder of Kendallville serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. The IN Whitley County News in Columbia City, which was launched in April 2018 to serve readers and advertisers, will be combined into The Post & Mail effective immediately. The IN Whitley County News subscribers will now receive a twice-weekly newspaper. "The all new Post & Mail will report news daily on our website www.thepostandmail.com, with print editions published Wednesday and Saturday, versus Tuesday and Saturday. And, The Post & Mail will return to home delivery as soon as possible" according to Lou Phelps, Chief Executive Officer of KPC Media Group. "Our goal is to insure timely news delivered every morning, with breaking news throughout the day, and to do a great job covering Friday night high school sports which subscribers will receive early Saturday morning," she explained. "It will take us a few weeks to re-establish a home delivery sys- tem, and recruit carriers." Nicole Minier, the Editor of The IN Whitley County News since its launch in April 2018, has been promoted to Executive Editor of The Post & Mail .Rachael (Rosfeld) Huntman has been named the full time Editor. Both women were born and raised in Columbia City and Whitley County, and know their communi- ties backwards and forward," added Phelps. Day-to-day operations of the newspaper and the company's web and social media strategies in Whitley County will be led by Lisa E. Long, Managing Editor of KPC's South Zone of 8 newspapers published in Allen and Whitley Counties. She also serves as Editor of The Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly. "We are very pleased to turn the historic The Post & Mail over to a local owner," said Steven Malcowich, Executive Vice President of Alberta Newspaper Group. "It has been our honor to serve this growing county, and we know that the newspaper is in good hands with the Witwer family." August 2021 Page 3 The Post & Mail sale announced, returns to local ownership The Nina Mason Pulliam Environmental Journalism Award was created through a grant by the Pulliam Trust to the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation to recognize Indiana journalists for outstanding reporting on environ- mental issues. The award was part of the HSPA Better Newspaper Contest for the first time in 2018. Sara Clifford of the Brown County Democrat is the 2021 recipient of the award for her reporting on water contamination. Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust $1,000 Environmental Journalism Award Hoosier State Press Association Foundation "It has been our honor to serve this growing county, and we know that the newspaper is in good hands with the Witwer family." — Steven Malcowich executive vice president, Alberta Newspaper Group

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