A 20-year newspaper veteran has taken the reins as Publisher for the Miramichi Leader and Miramichi Weekend, taking over from retiring industry legend David Cadogan.
Jamie C. Irving, General Manager, Community News Division, Brunswick News Inc., recently announced William (Bill) MacIntosh as the publisher for the Leader and the Weekend. Cadogan recently stepped down following the sale of his papers Jan. 3. Cadogan has spent the past 30 years in business in Miramichi.
Cadogan had originally sold only a minority interest in his papers to the New Brunswick newspaper, oil and lumber Irving family last year. At the time, he said he was not worried about the concentration of ownership that the purchase of his publishing company will establish.
ÔÇ£I canÔÇÖt rule the world,ÔÇØ said Cadogan at the time. ÔÇ£The chains are growing. The buying decisions are less and less being made on Main Street based on one newspaper. More and more chains of retailers, automotive dealers and whatnot are making group buys of media, not just newspapers.
ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs groups dealing with groups. Like it or not, thereÔÇÖs nothing I can do about it; itÔÇÖs the world we live in. ItÔÇÖs not so different than the world of the past. Television and radio have been dealing in networks for years ÔÇô newspapers are sort of the last ones to the party,ÔÇØ he said.
MacIntosh, 47, joined the Leader and Weekend 20 years ago. He has been Director of Sales for the papers and the web offset printing division for the past 15 years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Education degree from Saint Francis Xavier University.
“I want to thank Brunswick News Inc. for the opportunity,” said MacIntosh in a release. “I’ve enjoyed working with David Cadogan. I’m grateful to him and all the staff for all their help and support. I look forward to making sure the Leader and Weekend remain vital tools in the promotion of the interests of the Miramichi and the interests of our readers and advertisers.”
The move by the Irving family to acquire CadoganÔÇÖs papers last year gave them a foothold in the community newspaper market in Atlantic Canada. The Irvings already own several dailies, including the Moncton Times and Transcript, the Telegraph Journal, and the Fredericton Daily Gleaner as well as many other businesses in Atlantic Canada.
In late 2002, the family also acquired five community newspapers in New Brunswick from Henley Publishing: The Bugle in Woodstock, Le Cataracte in Grand Falls, the Northside News in Fredericton, Victoria County Record in Perth-Andover and the Valley Weekend.