Nisqually Valley News (NVN) parent company is sold

• Lafromboise Communications sold The Chronicle (Centralia), The Reflector (Battle Ground), and the Nisqually Valley News (Yelm),
• Chad and Coralee Taylor, owners of The Silver [Ad] Agency in Chehalis, became the new owners,
• The Silver Agency and the newspapers will remain separate companies.
• The Taylors committed to journalistic integrity and providing information in an unbiased way.

Opinion:

The importance of a local newspaper is vital to the fabric of a community. New owners bring excitement and passion to their undertaking and will be very welcome here, especially in this age of social media where local newspapers have been shrinking and disappearing.

The Chronicle (Centralia) reported the Taylors said the following in a written reply to questions about their plans for the company, “The Chronicle, Nisqually Valley News, and The Reflector have a tremendous responsibility to serve our communities, and we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to journalistic integrity.”

New NVN owners Chad and Coralee Taylor wrote, “On the news side, serving would come in the form of providing information to our community in an unbiased way.”

Unbiased information would be most welcome, as such has not been a consistent theme of the Nisqually Valley News (NVN). As an example, there have been several high-profile appearances of conflicts of interest between the NVN and the City of Yelm and other local business interests, as covered here previously over the span of 15 years. The new owners’ commitment to “hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to journalistic integrity,” IS important. And I look forward to welcoming the Taylors being involved in our local community. Perhaps the new owners would be open to a collaboration with the Yelm Community Blog, where previous NVN managements were not.

With the loss of former NVN Publisher Michael Wagar over a year ago, Yelm has seen the influence and footprint of the newspaper sadly on the wane here. With advertising noticeably decreasing, speculation about the NVN’s survival and future became rampant with the discontinuation of The Shopper, a weekly, free newspaper advertiser mailed to area addresses. Further evidence of the decline was reflected in a move to a downgraded, small Yelm office merely for the reporters to have a desk. With local operations transferred to Centralia, there was no longer a public interface between the newspaper and our community. With the new owners being from the Centralia/Chehalis area, will they decide to cut loose the smaller newspapers and focus only on The Chronicle? Time will tell.

With local news sources becoming scarce, I congratulate the Taylors for their commitment and endeavor to make a difference for our communities and wish them well.