El Rito Media LLC, the investment group that bought the Rio Grande SUN in 2022, bought the Artesia Daily Press last month. The purchase price was not disclosed.
For a few of the 10 investors, it’s a purchase of their hometown paper. Cousins Harvey Yates Jr., who runs oil and gas company Jalapeño Corporation, and Peyton Yates, former president of Yates Drilling Company, are both originally from Artesia.
“In very few years, many local newspapers in New Mexico have disappeared,” Harvey Yates Jr. said in a statement. “Others are clearly in jeopardy. Yet, a local newspaper helps make a community.”
The investment group also includes state representative Joseph Sanchez, D-Alcalde, as well as Richard “Rich” Connor, who now serves as the publisher and editor of the Artesia Daily Press. Connor, who lives in Santa Fe and splits his time between Española and Artesia, is also the publisher of the Rio Grande SUN.
Connor said that of the 10 investors, he is the only one involved in the newspaper’s operations. Connor has a decades-long career in journalism with several newspapers and media companies around the country.
“We had an agreement that I was the newspaper man and that I would run them,” Connor said. “…It’s totally hands-off.”
In a given week, the Artesia Daily Press sells between 1,200 and 1,500 papers. The Rio Grande SUN‘s reach is slightly larger, with weekly sales sitting at about 4,500 and 6,000 papers.
The Artesia Daily Press has been family owned since its inception.
Lincoln O’Brian and James Green founded the paper in 1954 — one day after the rival Artesia Advocate started publishing. The two papers merged in 1956. Although O’Brian ultimately left the paper, Green continued to run the Artesia Daily Press with his two sons, Ken and Walt, as well as several other newspapers in Socorro, Deming, Ruidoso and Valencia County. Those papers have since been sold.
The four employees who worked at the paper prior to purchase will remain at the Artesia Daily Press in some form. Connor expects to add between two and five new positions at the newspaper; he’s already hired an associate publisher who will start at the end of the month.
But the biggest change, Connor said, is bringing color printing to the newspaper. Starting in April, Connor will outsource the newspaper’s once-a-week print edition to an outside, full-color printing company. The print edition will be accompanied by a daily digital publication.
The purchase is one of several New Mexico newspaper purchases made in the last year. Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis bought three newspapers — the Sandoval Signpost, the Corrales Comment and the Edgewood Independent — in 2022. And independent publisher Nickolas Seibel bought both the Silver City Sun-News and the Deming Headlight from Gannett last year.
“What we’re trying to do is keep community newspapers alive, and make them vibrant in these communities,” Connor said. “…What drives me is trying to cover news in these small communities, because they depend upon that news, so, so, so, so badly.”
