State co-signs small business loan to keep newspaper afloat

Posted by Lisette García on November 10, 2009 at 9:02 AM

The U.S. state of New Hampshire has taken the unprecedented move of acting as guarantor to a private bank loan on behalf of a local newspaper changing hands, The Associated Press yesterday reported. The decision to underwrite The (Claremont) Eagle Times was approved by the state's legislature Wednesday without comment.

The Valley News of Lebanon suggested Sunday that the fact that the very government which The Eagle Times is assigned to cover bailed it out of a dire financial crisis may produce an irreconcilable conflict of interest, precluding independent and objective coverage.

News of the unorthodox partnership was made public by former Claremont City Councilman Jim Sullivan at The Sullivan Report, which bills itself as being "dedicated to providing the taxpayers with 'transparency' to city government." The item was also briefly mentioned in Sunday's Nashua Telegraph in a summary of the council's meeting.

Editor & Publisher in October reported that The Eagle Times, which had folded in July, resumed production and hired back one-third of its former staff when it was bought by The Sample News Group of Pennsylvania.