Park City’s newspaper sold to company that owns Provo’s and Ogden’s papers

The company that owns Park City’s newspaper has sold it to a national chain that also owns the papers in Ogden and Provo.

Swift Communications, the parent company of The Park Record in Park City and other papers in California and Colorado ski towns, announced Tuesday it is selling its local media and publishing businesses to Ogden Newspapers, based in Wheeling, W.Va. The story was reported Tuesday on the websites of the Park Record and other Swift papers.

Ogden owns papers in 16 states, including The Daily Herald in Provo and the Standard-Examiner in Ogden. The company gets its name not from the Utah city but from its founder, H.C. Ogden, who launched the Wheeling News in that West Virginia city in 1890.

The company remains family-owned, and the CEO, Robert Nutting, is H.C.’s great-grandson. Nutting is also the principal owner and chairman of the board of Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

The deal, set to close on Dec. 31, will mean Ogden will publish 54 daily papers and a number of weekly newspapers and magazines in 18 states, the companies said.

In a statement, reported by The Park Record, Nutting stressed his company’s commitment to journalism — and the role of community newspapers.

“We are the proud successor owners of a great newspaper in The Park Record that has served its community so well for decades,” Nutting said in his statement. “The Park Record has a legacy of strong local journalism that we are privileged to continue. We are particularly excited to be working with a team at The Park Record that has been recognized as an innovator in community journalism. We’re sure we will learn much from the dedicated employees who will be joining our team.”

Other papers in Swift’s portfolio include 11 in Colorado — including the papers in Vail, Aspen and Steamboat Springs — as well as the Tahoe Daily Tribune and other papers on the California side of Lake Tahoe.

The Park Record was founded in 1880, and was bought in December 2015 by Swift from Denver’s Digital First Media (which sold The Salt Lake Tribune to the Huntsman family four months later).