The Dayton Herald and the Athens Post-Athenian are among newspapers that have been sold by Jones Media to Adams Publishing of Minneapolis, Minn.
The family-owned Adams Publishing is headed by Steve Adams.
The amount of the sale was not listed.
Other Tennessee newspapers included in the sale include The Greeneville Sun, the Daily Times of Maryville, the Newport Plain Talk, the Rogersville Review, the News-Herald of Loudon, The Connection of Tellico Village, and The Advocate & Democrat of Monroe County. Several North Carolina newspapers were also involved.
Gregg Jones, president and CEO of Jones Media, said, “After 100 years of family ownership, selling Jones Media was not an easy decision for our family. However, there was no clear succeeding generation of our family working in the business, so we came to the difficult decision nearly a year ago that selling was the best option for our employees and the communities we serve.
"Finding the right company to succeed the Jones family was a challenge. There are a number of outstanding media companies across America; but, when we met the members of the Adams family, we felt from the beginning that they would be an excellent choice to succeed our family.
"My siblings and I take great pride in the quality of our publications and in the talented, extraordinary employees who have built the company. We felt deeply that the new owner of the company needed to reflect the family's value system and support for community newspapers and their staffs.
“The Adams family shares our own family’s passionate belief in a bright future for the community newspaper business, one that includes ink on paper as well as one that aggressively embraces the opportunities for new, exciting products and services made possible in our ever-emerging digital world.
“Throughout the four generations of our family's newspaper ownership, we have appreciated more than we can easily express the privilege of serving the communities of which we are a part, and we continue to be extremely grateful for their support.
"For this reason, in considering the sale of the company, it has been very important to us that both our family and the Adams family advocate newspapers' being engaged with our communities in every way - from offering our readers relevant content to help them live better, more enjoyable lives, to pursuing positive results and success for our advertisers, to participating in the civic life of the communities we serve with our time, talent and money, and more.”
Adams Publishing Group has newspapers in 11 other states.
Steve Adams said, “We’re very excited to welcome Jones Media to our family of companies. Through generations of stewardship, Jones Media is considered one of the premier newspaper and digital companies in the country. We salute the Jones family and all of the Jones associates for their fine work, and look forward to a prosperous future.”
All of Jones Media’s full-time employees will be offered employment and benefits with the Adams Publishing Group, it was stated.
Gregg Jones will continue as president and CEO of Jones Media and will succeed his late father, John M. Jones, III, as publisher of The Greeneville Sun.
.