Newspaper files for bankruptcy protection, gets new owners

ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Dispatch News has announced it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in the process of transitioning to new ownership.

KTVA reports (http://bit.ly/2vul4FR) the newspaper’s potential buyers might pay as much as $1 million for the paper. Those buyers included four siblings — Ryan Binkley, Wade Binkley, James Binkley and Kai Binkley Sims — as well as Alaska Media LLC, publisher of the Arctic Sounder, The Bristol Bay Times and the Dutch Harbor Fisherman.

A statement from Dispatch News publisher Alice Rogoff called the decision bittersweet. But she expressed pride in the paper’s work under her tenure since buying the former Anchorage Daily News in 2014 for $34 million. She renamed the print publication the Alaska Dispatch News.

A number of creditors have filed lawsuits against the Dispatch News, the state’s largest newspaper.

Advertisement