Paxton Media Group Acquires Madison (IN) CourierBack to News

Madison, IN – March 2, 2020 – Paxton Media Group has acquired the 182-year-old Madison Courier in Madison, Indiana, the largest city between Cincinnati and Louisville.

The 4,500-circulation newspaper had been owned by the Garber family for six generations. The Garber family’s history with the Courier traces back to 1849 when Michael Christian Garber gave up his drygoods store in Rising Sun, Indiana, to become a small-town publisher in Madison.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented the Garber family in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Paxton Media Group, a family-owned media company headquartered in Paducah, Kentucky, is managed by fourth- and fifth-generation Paxton family members. The company owns 70-plus newspapers across the Midwest and Southeast, including 12 other dailies in Indiana.

“My brother, William Jacobs, and sister, Sara Clymer, and I have thought about this change over a long period of time and feel that is the best path forward for our family and to ensure the survival of the newspaper,” said publisher Curt Jacobs in a statement to readers.

“We believe, now more than ever, in the work that newspapers do,” Jacobs continued. “A community without a newspaper is greatly diminished. The resource advantages a larger organization brings to the table makes continuation of the Courier more secure. That, along with the inherent strength and vitality of our community makes us hopeful for a bright future.”