The Aurora Sentinel newspaper said Thursday it has been sold to Aurora Media Group LLC for an undisclosed amount.
The 102-year-old Sentinel said its publications, digital products and The Buckley Guardian weekly came under control of the new owners on Feb. 24. It had been owned by the Aurora Publishing Co.
James Gold, managing partner for Leap Media Partners, will serve as publisher. Editor Dave Perry will remain, while former publisher H. Harrison Cochran is retiring.
“The Sentinel and Buckley Guardian will continue their historical commitment to serving the community with exceptional journalism that instills a sense of place and perspective,” Gold said. “In the months ahead we will extend our print and digital media to engage the city’s political, business, educational, cultural and artistic communities in new and compelling ways.” Gold has previously served as a senior vice president of The New York Times Regional Media Group.
The Sentinel has covered Colorado’s third-largest city as a weekly, daily and digital media company. It once belonged to the Sentinel news group under the Minneapolis Star Tribune and was sold to local owners at the Aurora Publishing Co. in 1991.
“We were pleased in 1991 to bring Aurora’s paper back to local ownership and are excited that the Aurora Media Group will continue that,” Cochran said. “Local ownership with hands-on management is increasingly rare in the era of corporate consolidation.”
