Courier sold to S.C. firm Crescent tried to buy weeklies 2 years ago

ROCKLAND – A South Carolina-based newspaper publishing firm has purchased Courier Publications, Courier CEO David Morse said Friday.

Courier Publications publishes the thrice-weekly Courier-Gazette in Rockland, and the weekly Camden Herald, Republican Journal in Belfast, Bar Harbor Times, Ellsworth Weekly, Lincoln County Weekly and Capital Weekly in Augusta. The company was purchased by American Consolidated Media Inc., based in Dallas, two years ago.

Morse said Crescent is headed by Bern Mebane. Along with the newspapers Crescent publishes in South Carolina, Morse said the company also owns a group of papers in Alabama under the name Gulf Coast Newspapers.

Crescent was one of the suitors for the company when Courier Publications was for sale two years ago, Morse said.

“Bern Mebane was one of the finalists when Courier was initially for sale,” he said. “His background is in small-market newspapers,” with an emphasis on editorial quality, he said of Mebane. One of Mebane’s newspapers won a Pulitzer Prize, Morse added.

Mebane has a background working with Gannett Newspapers and the Multimedia Newspaper Co., Morse said.

Morse will stay on as publisher and president, he said, as will Ron Belyea as vice president.

Morse said there may be some changes with the new ownership, but he said he was enthusiastic about working for Mebane.

“I’ve known Bern for a number of years,” Morse said, adding that he has a high regard for Mebane’s reputation.

In a prepared statement released by Courier Publications, Mebane notes that the Courier newspapers are known for their quality.

“What makes them very attractive to us is their demonstrated commitment to excellence in coverage of local news for local readers,” Mebane said in the statement.

American Consolidated Media Inc. head Jeremy Halbreich said Friday that Courier had not been marketed.

“We never put the company up officially for sale,” he said. “We started receiving a variety of unsolicited offers.” Halbreich speculated that when the company sold four weekly newspapers it owned briefly in Massachusetts, it may have attracted buyers.

In May, ACM sold the York County Coast Star and the York Weekly, which it had added to the Courier group shortly after purchasing the Maine company.

ACM is concentrating on building a newspaper group in Texas, Halbreich said. He would not disclose the sale price of the company.