Swift Communications

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Digital marketing and newspaper publishing company

title: "Swift Communications" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["newspaper-companies-of-the-united-states", "mass-media-in-carson-city,-nevada", "american-companies-established-in-1975", "1975-establishments-in-nevada"] description: "Digital marketing and newspaper publishing company" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Communications" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Digital marketing and newspaper publishing company ::

Swift Communications Inc. is an American digital marketing and newspaper publishing company based in Carson City, Nevada. Swift's primary markets are resort town tabloid newspapers and websites as well as agricultural publications. The company was founded in 1975 by Philip E. Swift and acquired from estate by Ogden Newspapers in 2021.

History

Origins and growth

Swift Newspapers was founded by Philip E. Swift in 1975. Swift, a former executive at the Scripps League of Newspapers, exchanged his equity interests in the company for ownership of two daily newspapers, The News-Review and Tahoe Daily Tribune. Swift also took possession of the Sierra Sun.

In January 1982, he merged his business with Pioneer Newspapers to form Swift-Pioneer Newspapers, Inc. In October 1982, the Lander Journal. In May 1983, Scripps-Ifft Newspapers, Inc., owned by Nicholas Ifft, sold the Bozeman Chronicle, Havre Daily News and Idaho State Journal to Swift-Pioneer. A few months later Swift-Pioneer also bought the Seaside Signal, Tillamook Headlight-Herald and The News Guard from Scripps-Ifft. In 1988, Swift-Pioneer acquired the Record-Courier.

Around 1990, Swift and Pioneer began operating separately, with Swift based in Carson City, Nevada and Pioneer based in Seattle, Washington. Pioneer took the papers in Idaho, Montana, southern Oregon and Washington, while Swift took the rest. Swift acquired the Nevada Appeal in 1995, followed by the Aspen Times and Glenwood Springs Independent in 1999. A year later Swift bought several papers from Morris Communications, including the Glenwood Springs Post, Rifle Citizen-Telegram, Valley Journal of Carbondale, Snowmass Village Sun and Eagle Valley Enterprise. The Post and Independent were merged to form the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

Following the split with Pioneer, Swift took possession of Pacific Coast Newspapers, which published three papers on the Oregon coast. In February 2003, the subsidiary sold off the Seaside Signal, followed by Tillamook Headlight-Herald and The News Guard. Swift then purchased the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard in October 2003, and The Vail Trail in February 2004. The company was renamed to Swift Communications in 2006, and acquired the Fort Collins Weekly in July 2007. The paper was renamed to Fort Collins Now.

Decline and sell off

Amid the Great Recession, Swift closed the Valley Journal of Carbondale, Spanish-language publication La Tribuna of Greeley and the Leadville Chronicle. In late 2008, Colorado Mountain News Media, a subsidiary of Swift, reduced its staff by 20% over a two-month period through attrition, retirement and layoffs. The Vail Trail also closed. Layoffs at Swift continued into 2009 with staff positions eliminated at the Grand Junction Free Press, The Citizen Telegram, The Post Independent and The Aspen Times. In July 2009, Fort Collins Now, was closed. In September 2009, P. William Toler was hired as CEO.

In 2015, Swift purchased the Park Record sold The News-Review, and closed the Grand Junction Free Press. In 2016, Swift acquired the Steamboat Pilot & Today and the Craig Press. In July 2019. Swift Communication sold Nevada Appeal, the Lahontan Valley News, The Record-Courier and Northern Nevada Business View to Pacific Publishing Company.

On November 27, 2019, company founder Philip E. Swift died. On December 31, 2021, Swift Communications was acquired by Ogden Newspapers, a Wheeling, West Virginia-based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and shoppers guides throughout 18 states. Company president Bob Brown then retired.

Following the sale to Ogden, Swift sold the Greeley Tribune to MediaNews Group in 2020, The Union to Gold Hill California Media in 2022, and Park Record to Tatiana and Matthew Prince in 2023. The company closed the Eagle Valley Enterprise of Eagle, Colorado, in 2025.

Publications

Newspapers published by Swift Communications as of 2025.

[[California]]

[[Colorado]]

Controversies

Swift Communications has been noted for "being outside of the mainstream" and "drawing national attention inside the industry" for disabling commenting and implementing paywalls on most of its online newspaper's websites.

Bob Berwyn firing

In November 2009 Bob Berwyn, a journalist for the Summit Daily News, wrote a column which criticized the marketing practices of Vail Resorts, one of the paper's largest advertisers. He was fired shortly after the writing the article. Berwyn claimed it was over his column, but the company claimed he was fired over “a series of events.” This firing was widely derided in the Colorado media.

Removal of user comments

In May, 2011 after gathering analytics, metrics and revenue data on their commenting platform investment, Swift reviewed the data and decided to remove the user-generated content (UGC) platform Pluck from all online newspapers owned by Swift Communications. The ability for readers to leave comments about articles was removed. Editors with Swift felt the inability of their content management software to restrict comments they did not approve of was impacting newsroom productivity and civil community conversation.

Anthony Collebrusco from the Digital News Test Kitchen at CU-Boulder's School of Journalism & Mass Communication which is involved in researching a viable means of limiting the pseudonymity and unconditional free speech of commenters on Swift's websites paraphrased Swift's policy as:

In Fall of 2011, the Aspen Times re-enabled anonymous commenting for users with an active Facebook account.

Inflated ad rates

Swift Communications has been accused of stifling competition and setting artificially inflated ad rates by consolidating and closing small-town newspapers. Steve Lipsher, former editor of the Summit Daily News said in 2008 that "If you're an advertiser in places like Summit County, they're the only game in town" and in 2009, Swift-owned newspapers had 90% market share in Eagle County. Swift has also been criticized for over-charging for obituary listings.

References

References

  1. (August 1, 1975). "Argus publisher to Napa". The Press Democrat.
  2. Barrett, Doug. (May 7, 1969). "Sierra Sun Celebrates 100th Anniversary on May 7, 1969".
  3. (January 22, 1982). "Pioneer, Swift newspaper firms merge". Nevada State Journal.
  4. (October 6, 1982). "Carson firm buys paper". Reno Gazette-Journal.
  5. (May 3, 1984). "2 state papers purchased". The Billings Gazette.
  6. (May 15, 2003). "George Nicholas "Nick" Ifft III (Obituary)". Asbury Park Press.
  7. (July 20, 1983). "Nevada chain buys Seaside Signal". The Daily Astorian.
  8. (February 26, 1988). "Swift chain buys Record-Courier". Reno Gazette-Journal.
  9. (June 1, 1995). "Swift Newspapers buy the Nevada Appeal". Reno Gazette-Journal.
  10. Vader, Marija B.. (November 12, 1999). "Newspapers in Aspen, Glenwood Springs are sold". The Daily Sentinel.
  11. Vader, Marija B.. (November 18, 2000). "Glenwood newspapers will merge {{!}} Owner of the Independent buys Post, fires 41 workers". The Daily Sentinel.
  12. (January 23, 2003). "Signal under new ownership". Seaside Signal.
  13. (2007-04-04). "New owners taking over coast papers".
  14. (October 28, 2003). "Swift Newspapers buys Nevada paper". The Union.
  15. (February 25, 2004). "Swifts strengthens hold on Colorado newspapers". The Park Record.
  16. "Who Owns the News Media". The state of the News Media.
  17. (July 13, 2007). "Daily Briefing {{!}} Weekly changes name and day". Fort Collins Coloradoan.
  18. Weatherred, Jenna. (2008-12-31). "A note from the publisher".
  19. (2008-11-13). "Vail Trail to publish last issue".
  20. Williams, David O.. (2009-02-28). "Community papers struggling: Vail Daily cuts staff to 2002 levels". Colorado Independent.
  21. Webb, Dennis. (2009-05-03). "Rifle editor among latest Swift layoffs".
  22. Hughes, Trevor. (May 19, 2009). "Fort Collins Now will close doors Thursday". Fort Collins Coloradoan.
  23. Roberts, Michael. (2009-05-21). "Closure of Fort Collins Now marks end of era in great Northern Colorado weekly newspaper war".
  24. (September 5, 2009). "Swift Communications names ex-P&G executive as new CEO". Reno Gazette-Journal.
  25. (December 1, 2015). "Swift Communications buys Park City newspaper in Utah".
  26. (September 4, 2015). "Roseburg investors buy News-Review".
  27. Johnson, Ken. (2015-10-27). "Farewell Grand Junction Free Press".
  28. (2016-06-19). "Aspen Times owner acquires papers in Craig and Steamboat".
  29. Campbell, Renee. (June 17, 2016). "Craig Daily Press has new owners".
  30. Ferrari, Mike. (July 31, 2019). "FAQs for Transfer of Ownership of the Nevada Appeal, the Record-Courier, Lahontan Valley News and the Northern Nevada Business View".
  31. (2019-12-06). "Philip E. Swift, Founder of Swift Newspapers, Inc., Dies at 102".
  32. Miller, Scott. (November 30, 2021). "Parent company of Vail Daily sells to Ogden Newspapers".
  33. Daily, Scott N. MillerVail. (2021-12-13). "Swift Communications President Bob Brown set to retire with sale of newspaper company".
  34. Agnew, Kelly Geary. (February 25, 2020). "Swift Communications sells Greeley Tribune to newspaper operator MediaNews Group".
  35. (June 2, 2022). "The Union sold to Gold Hill California Media".
  36. Meyerowitz, Robert. (2023-03-28). "Tatiana and Matthew Prince set to acquire the 143-year-old Park Record newspaper".
  37. Malatesta, Parker. (2023-03-28). "Park City billionaire purchases Park Record newspaper".
  38. Heicher, Kathy. (2025-03-05). "Farewell, Eagle Valley Enterprise: Eagle County’s oldest business folds after 124 years".
  39. "Brands".
  40. Collebrusco, Anthony. "'No comment': Swift newspaper websites keeping user comments turned off". Digital News Test Kitchen.
  41. (2011-10-21). "Aspen Times online comments return". Aspen Times.
  42. Tomasic, John. (2008-09-21). "Greeley Tribune, other Swift papers, erecting paywalls". Colorado Independent.
  43. Carr, David. (2009-12-15). "Mountain Media Takes Nasty Spill After Confrontation with Vail Resorts". Media Decoder - New York Times.
  44. Hooper, Troy. (2009-12-12). "Reporter: I was fired for taking on the ski industry". Aspen Daily News.
  45. Greene, Susan. (2009-12-10). "Advertising flap snowballs for Vail Resorts". Denver Post.
  46. Bangert, Randy. (2011-04-30). "Web comments for The Tribune take a holiday". Greeley Tribune.
  47. Collebrusco, Anthony. "Civil comments for news websites". Digital News Test Kitchen.
  48. Outing, Steve. "#$^&%#@) it! … Keep it civil, commenters!". Digital News Test Kitchen.
  49. Collebrusco, Anthony. "'No comment': Swift newspaper websites keeping user comments turned off". Digital News Test Kitchen.
  50. Williams, David O.. (2008-06-08). "Mountain McPapers slurp up competition". Colorado Independent.
  51. Roberts, Michael. (2008-05-22). "Ed Stein Moves Out of "Denver Square"". Denver Westword News.
  52. Courant, James. (2010-06-05). "Your Not So "Local Newspaper"". Greeley Gazette.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

newspaper-companies-of-the-united-statesmass-media-in-carson-city,-nevadaamerican-companies-established-in-19751975-establishments-in-nevada