Grafton News editor laid off in Gannett cuts; newspaper may no longer print

The Grafton News, the town’s longtime weekly newspaper, suffered a near-death blow on Friday as parent company Gannett laid off its only staffer, editor Maureen Sullivan.

The newspaper itself will apparently cease publication entirely but maintain a web presence, according to multiple reports from current and former Gannett staffers.

Gannett, the largest news chain in the United States, laid off staff from coast-to-coast Friday and shut down much of its news properties, including those that, like The Grafton News, were part of the former Holden Landmark Corporation: the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, The Landmark, Baystate Parent magazine, and the Leominster Champion. The Item, based in Clinton, was also affected. The chain also owns the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which has suffered its own newsroom cuts over the past few years.

The Grafton News was founded in 1958 by Charlie Bolack, who swatted away offers to buy the publication for decades. The quirky weekly eschewed an online presence until 2009 after the launch of its first local online competitor, GraftonTimes.com (later The Daily Grafton and The Grafton Daily Voice).

Bolack retired as editor and publisher in 2012, when he sold it to Don Clark, Wendy Watkins and Cynthia Bissell. In 2015, after Landmark owner Kirk Davis acquired online publication The Grafton Villager from Richard Price, the trio sold The Grafton News to Landmark Corp.

In February 2018, Davis — who was also chief executive officer at GateHouse — sold the Landmark papers to GateHouse. GateHouse subsequently underwent a $1.1 billion takeover of Gannett in 2019, taking on the much better-known Gannett name.

Price, posting on The Grafton Villager’s social media Saturday for the first time in years, reported:

•  The Landmark, covering Holden, Paxton, Princeton, and Rutland, will cease publication next month;
• The Item, a former daily based in Clinton (and also covering Berlin, Bolton, Boylston, West Boylston, Lancaster, and Sterling), will continue in some form but has lost its 35-year editor, Jan Gottsman;
• The Leominster Champion ceased print publication back in March but editor David Dore, who also writes for the Telegram, remains in place;
• Baystate Parent will cease publication.

(Full disclosure: Grafton Common editor Jennifer Lord Paluzzi was editor of GraftonTimes.com under its multiple names until it, and all of its Massachusetts websites and staff, were shut down by its media chain, The Daily Voice, in 2013. Former Grafton News editor Price was the Grafton reporter for her staff. Paluzzi spent a decade at the MetroWest Daily News — for several years alongside Sullivan — until she was laid off in 2008 by the then-GateHouse newspaper.)

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