The Santa Clarita Valley Signal
{{Short description|American newspaper founded in 1919}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = The Santa Clarita Valley Signal
| type = Daily newspaper
| format = Broadsheet
| foundation = 1919
| owners = Richard and Chris Budman
| headquarters = 25060 Avenue Stanford
Santa Clarita, California 91355
{{USA}}
| publisher = Richard Budman
| editor = Tim Whyte
| language = English
| circulation = 8,000
| circulation_date = 2018
| oclc =
| ISSN =
| website = {{URL|https://signalscv.com}}
| logo =
| maneditor = Perry R. Smith
| staff = Perry R. Smith (Santa Clarita city government reporter), Justin Vigil-Zuniga (high school sportswriter), Tyler Wainfield (education reporter), Rylee Holwager (business and features reporter), Dan Watson, Katherine Quezada (photographers)
}}
The Santa Clarita Valley Signal is a newspaper in Santa Clarita, California, originally founded in 1919. The owners are Richard and Chris Budman.
The Signal covers the city of Santa Clarita and surrounding unincorporated areas in the Santa Clarita Valley, about {{convert|30|mi|km}} northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It covers community news, which includes government and politics, business, elementary, secondary and college education, public safety, features, entertainment and high school and college sports within the Santa Clarita Valley.
By 2018, it was the only newspaper serving the city. As at August 2018 it has a circulation of around 8,000.{{Citation | last= Schonbrun | first= Zach | title= When a Local Paper Gets New Owners, Partisan Strife Hits Its Doorstep | url= https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/business/media/santa-clarita-valley-signal-local-news.html | periodical= The New York Times | date=5 August 2018}} The Signal has its own editorial board.
History
The paper was founded in 1919 as a weekly, the Newhall Signal.
In 1963, the paper was purchased by Scott Newhall, the long-time editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. (Newhall, California, had been founded by Newhall's "great-grandfather during the California gold rush."{{cite news |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |title=Scott Newhall, 78, Newspaper Editor In San Francisco |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/28/us/scott-newhall-78-newspaper-editor-in-san-francisco.html |date=October 28, 1992 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 2, 2018}} Newhall sold The Signal in 1978, "but continued to edit
From 1978 to 2016, the Signal was owned by Savannah, Georgia-based Morris Multimedia. Led by chairman Charles H. Morris, Morris Multimedia owned the Signal for thirty-seven years.
In January 2016, Morris Multimedia sold The Signal to Paladin Multimedia Group.{{cite news |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151215006986/en/Paladin-Multi-Media-Group-acquire-Santa-Clarita-Valley |title=Paladin Multi-Media Group to acquire Santa Clarita Valley Signal |date=December 15, 2015 |access-date=October 11, 2018 |location=Santa Clarita, California}} Charles F. Champion, the Signal{{'}}s new president and publisher, said he wanted to "build on the paper's award winning news platform", attract more local advertisements, and increase his audience. At that time the forty editorial, advertising sales, circulation, digital and production departments staff members retained their jobs. Champion's business partners were Gary Sproule, Russ Briley and Ken DePaola.
In June 2018, Richard Budman, who had been the Signal
Tim Whyte, who had worked with Budman as the Signal{{'}}s general manager until 2007, returned as editor-in-chief in 2018. Whyte writes all the editorials for the daily. In 2018, along with the five-day edition, the Signal began to publish a new Sunday magazine with free distribution to 75,000 households, featuring a "bylined column" entitled "Black and Whyte" by Whyte.{{cite news |url=https://www.cjr.org/special_report/the-proclaimer-santa-clarita.php/ |title=Both Sides Now: When a California town's newspaper gets troubling new owners, critics start their own |first=Amanda |last=Darrach |publisher=Columbia Journalism Review (CJR)|date=October 9, 2018 |access-date=October 9, 2018}}
Controversy
According to an October 9, 2018 article in the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the Proclaimer. According to a July 24, 2018 article in The Daily Beast, the Budmans have espoused conspiracy theories and promoted the Republican Party in the valley. Richard Budman defended himself against allegations that the couple's politics could influence the newspaper's editorial stance, stating that the newspaper ran positive stories on Katie Hill, then a Democratic congressional candidate.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/santa-clarita-valley-signals-new-owners-boosted-far-right-conspiracies|title=Santa Clarita Valley Signal's New Owners Boosted Far-Right Conspiracies|date=July 24, 2018|work=The Daily Beast|access-date=October 11, 2018|language=en |first=Rachel |last=Frazin}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.signalscv.com}}
- [http://www.paladinmultimediagroup.com/ Paladin Multimedia Group]
{{Santa Clarita}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Clarita Valley Signal}}
Category:Daily newspapers published in California