McClatchy

McClatchy is an American publishing company that has been around for more than 150 years. It started in Sacramento, California. In 2020, it joined Chatham Asset Management after having money problems.

The company has 29 daily newspapers in 14 states. It reaches over 1.6 million readers on weekdays and more than 2.4 million on Sundays. In 2006, it grew bigger by buying Knight Ridder, which was the second-largest newspaper company in the United States at the time. In 2024, McClatchy joined forces with A360media.

McClatchy journalists have won nine Pulitzer prizes for their important work. The most recent win was in 2017 for uncovering secrets in the Panama Papers. They are known for reporting on important issues, helping people stay informed about what is happening in the world.

History

On February 3, 1857, The Daily Bee was first published in Sacramento, California. Soon after, James McClatchy became the paper's editor and later a co-owner. The company grew over time, founding The Fresno Bee in 1922 and buying more newspapers.

Eleanor McClatchy led the company for many years. In 1963, McClatchy bought a television station, and later added many newspapers across the United States. In 2006, McClatchy bought a large newspaper group called Knight Ridder, but sold some papers to follow rules about competition.

In 2020, McClatchy had money problems and filed for bankruptcy. A company called Chatham Asset Management bought McClatchy later that year. McClatchy kept changing and selling some of its newspapers and offices in the years that followed.

Business ventures

McClatchy had several parts to help share news and manage newspapers.

McClatchyDC was a news agency from its office in Washington, D.C.. It started in 2006 and stopped in November 2025.

In 1978, McClatchy created El Dorado Newspapers to buy smaller papers in California. It bought papers like the Gilroy Dispatch and The Morgan Hill Times. Some of these papers stopped operating or were sold.

Nando Media was McClatchy's online news service. It joined McClatchy in 1995 and was renamed McClatchy Interactive before becoming part of McClatchy in 2015.

McClatchy also shared news with the Tribune Company through McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. This partnership ended in 2014.

Finally, McClatchy owned a paper mill near Spokane, Washington. The mill opened in 1989 and closed in 2020.

Criticism

In August 2013, McClatchy Newspapers shared news about talks between leaders of a group called Al Qaeda. They reported that the group might be planning an attack. This made it harder for officials to keep people safe because it was harder to watch the group's messages. After the report, the group changed how they communicated, and officials needed new ways to monitor them.

Publications

McClatchy has many daily newspapers and magazines. Some of their daily newspapers include The Beaufort Gazette, Belleville News-Democrat, The Bellingham Herald, and many more in different states across the U.S. They also publish magazines such as Closer, First for Women, and Us Weekly.

Some newspapers were bought and then later sold, like Aberdeen American News, Akron Beacon Journal, and others. These sales happened in 2006.

Formerly-owned stations

McClatchy Broadcasting began in 1936 with four radio stations in California. In 1987, McClatchy sold its last four radio stations. KFBK and KAER went to Group W, and KMJ and KNAX went to Henry Broadcasting Co. This allowed the company to focus more on its newspapers.

The stations are listed alphabetically by state and city of license. Two boldface asterisks (**) next to a station's call letters mean that McClatchy built and started that station.

This list does not include a planned Channel 10 station in Sacramento, CA, which later became KXTV, owned by Sacramento Telecasters.