Paxton Media Group Acquires North Vernon (IN) Plain Dealer & SunBack to News

North Vernon, IN – February 8, 2021- Paxton Media Group has acquired the North Vernon (IN) Plain Dealer & Sun from the King family.

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

The Plain Dealer & Sun has served Jennings County, Indiana since 1864 and has been published by the King family since 1954. Barbara King has led the company since she moved back to her hometown in 1982. She followed her father and then her mother as publisher and has served as editor two different times.

“Basically, it is time for me to retire,” said Barbara. “My husband John (Roche) and I have reached that point in our lives where we need to step back from the daily grind. And in the local newspaper business, that ‘daily’ is just about that — every day.

“My two sisters, Susan and Madelon, and myself felt it was important to transfer ownership of the business to a company that shared many of the same goals and operating principles as ours. Paxton Media Group, currently run by that family’s fifth generation, fulfills that desire.”

Paxton Media Group is a family-owned media company headquartered in Paducah, Kentucky. The company owns 70-plus newspapers across the Midwest and Southeast, including 13 dailies in Indiana.

“We believe newspapers are important to communities and the Plain Dealer & Sun has been an integral part of the North Vernon community,” said Mike Weafer, Group Publisher for Paxton Media Group. “We are excited and honored to have the opportunity continue publishing the Plain Dealer & Sun.”