Harris Enterprises to Sell Two Kansas NewspapersBack to News

HUTCHINSON, KS, NOVEMBER 15, 2007 – Bruce Buchanan, president of Harris Enterprises, Inc., has announced that two daily newspapers are being offered for sale. The two newspapers are the Parsons (KS) Sun and the Chanute (KS) Tribune.

Hutchinson-based Harris Enterprises, Inc. also owns the daily Hutchinson (KS) News, five other newspapers in Kansas and Iowa, two shopper publications and a marketing company.

“We have always been heavily invested in newspapers, and will continue to be,” Bruce Buchanan, president of Harris, said. “However, we will use the proceeds of this sale to diversify our interests.”

Harris has owned the Chanute Tribune since 1927. It was the second newspaper in the Harris group. The Tribune publishes Tuesday through Friday afternoons and Saturday morning. Harris bought the Parsons Sun in 1982 from the late Clyde Reed and other stockholders. The Sun publishes Monday through Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

“These are great communities, and the two newspapers do a superb job of covering them,” Buchanan said. “But we know this will be unsettling for our employees, so we hope it will move quickly.”

Darren Werth, who was named editor and publisher of both newspapers early this year, said he does not contemplate any changes in the two staffs other than through normal turnover.

“We still have to produce newspapers,” he said. “We have good people in place. I have confidence they will not allow this announcement to distract them.”

Buchanan said interested buyers should contact Harris’ representative, Dirks, Van Essen and Murray, a newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.