Stephens Media LLC was a

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the

California Newspapers Partnership California Newspapers Partnership is a publisher of more than two dozen daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers in the United States state of California. The partnership is managed as a subsidiary of MediaNews Group, its majority owner. The ...

and the ''Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette''. The company had been expanding its interactive Internet business, operating online sites for its newspapers and portal sites like LasVegas.com, which is licensed to

Greenspun Media Group The Greenspun Media Group is an independent company and was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Greenspun Corporation. Headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, the group has over 60 years experience in the Las Vegas Valley. Beginning with the '' Las Vegas ...

. The company is also a partner in the

with

MediaNews MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns over 100 newspa ...

and Gannett. The company also formed Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC in November 2009, a joint venture with WEHCO Media Inc., in Arkansas. On November 28, 2010, Stephens Media Iowa, LLC, a subsidiary of Stephens Media, acquired several newspapers, including the ''Ames Tribune'', ''Boone News-Republican'', ''Dallas County News'', ''Nevada Journal'', ''Ames About People & Advertiser'', ''Tri-County Times'', and ''Algona Upper Des Moines'' from Midlands Newspapers Inc., a subsidiary of the

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

Company. In August, 2011, the Algona Upper Des Moines was sold to Hallmark Media. In February 2015, Stephens Media was purchased by GateHouse Media for $102.8 million. In December 2015, GateHouse sold the ''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal'' ...

'', the Stephens group's largest paper, to casino magnate

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...

for $140 million.

History

The company was called Donrey Media Group, which was founded by Arkansas media mogul Donald W. Reynolds and based in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. After Reynolds died in 1993 at the age of 86, the company was sold to the Stephens family of Arkansas, known for their Little Rock investment banking business Stephens Inc. Some of Donrey's properties were sold off, and the company moved its headquarters to

, home of its largest newspaper, the ''

''. The company was renamed Stephens Media Group in 2002. In June 2006, the company became known as Stephens Media LLC. The company has no connection with

Stephens Media Group Stephens Media Group is an Oklahoma based radio broadcaster that owns 75 radio stations particularly in small to mid-size markets. Its flagship stations are at its headquarters in Tulsa. Stephens refers to itself as "A portfolio of People", ref ...

, a radio broadcasting company in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Copyright infringements

In 2010, Stephens Media contracted with the litigation firm Righthaven LLC, giving it the power to enforce the company's copyrights when online violators go beyond the bounds of fair use. More than 141 lawsuits have been filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas since mid-March. In a column published in the RJ shortly after the lawsuits began, publisher Sherman Frederick, said the primary goal with the partnership with Righthaven was to deter theft of the company's copyrighted materials. He said if the company was successful, he hoped Righthaven would find other media clients. In late August, WEHCO Media, which owns the ''

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of i ...

'' and the ''

Chattanooga Times Free Press The ''Chattanooga Times Free Press'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is distributed in the metropolitan Chattanooga region of southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It is one of Tennessee's majo ...

'', signed on with the firm. MediaNews Group has also used Righthaven to file a copyright infringement suit. The aggressive enforcement of the Stephens Media copyrights by Righthaven was being closely watched by other publishers, as is the debate it has generated. Critics of the relatively new practice have coined it '

copyright troll A copyright troll is a party (person or company) that enforces copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through strategic litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, sometimes while without producing or licensin ...

ing', and argue that the purpose of such enforcement is to make a profit. In the Poynter article, Stephens Media general counsel Mark Hinueber says the goal is to make sure the company's intellectual rights are protected. "We were seeing our entire work product in some stories just being right-clicked and cut and pasted into blogs, where people were selling Google ads around them and making money." The ''Las Vegas Sun'' has been thoroughly documenting Righthaven's activities and the response. The ''Sun''’s outside law firm, Lewis and Roca, is defending several of the Righthaven suits. Targets of the Righthaven lawsuits included bloggers, political forums, major political parties, and several of the newspaper's own sources including

NORML The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Acc ...

, DailyPaul.com,

InfoWars ''InfoWars'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC. Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in studi ...

Free Republic Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum and chat site for self-described conservatives, primarily within the United States. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonymously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names ...

, and others. On August 25, 2010, the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

(EFF) announced that they will make efforts to assist Righthaven LLC defendants to the best of their ability. Righthaven's lawsuits came under increasing judicial scrutiny, which led to Righthaven being found in June 2011 to lack standing to sue for alleged infringement of copyrighted material to which it holds only a limited license, as such a license does not confer the right to sue for infringement. Sanctions against Righthaven and its attorney, Steven A. Gibson, of Nevada law firm Dickinson Wright, are currently being contemplated by one judge. Righthaven later had its assets seized to pay judgments levied against it in lawsuits it filed against those whom it said infringed on the copyrights of clients. As a result, copyrights which had been "sold" by Stephens to Righthaven were "sold back" to Stephens for $80,000 to pay legal fees.

Joint venture

In September 2009, Stephens Media and WEHCO Media Inc., owner of the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'', announced plans to combine their newspaper operations in Northwest Arkansas and operate as a single company. The venture was approved in November 2009 by the U.S. Justice Department, and a new Arkansas limited liability company, Northwest Arkansas Newspaper LLC, was formed. Stephens Media sold its interest in the joint venture to WEHCO on May 5, 2016, which then assumed all control of operations of the newspapers in the joint venture. Newspapers in the joint venture include: *''The Springdale Morning News'' *''The Rogers Morning News'' *''Northwest Arkansas Times'' *''Benton County Daily Record''

Holdings

*''Stephens Press'' *"Hawgs Illustrated" magazine, Springdale, Ark., part of joint venture with WEHCO Media *"Luxury Las Vegas" magazine, Las Vegas, Nevada *''Arkansasnews.com'' The company also publishes an online-only site focused on state politics.

Newspapers by state

Arkansas *''

Southwest Times Record The ''Southwest Times Record'' is a daily newspaper in Fort Smith, Arkansas and covers 10 counties in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. It is owned and published by Gannett. History The Times Record began as three separate papers: the For ...

, Fort Smith (DAILY) #''Press Argus Courier'', Van Buren (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Booneville Democrat'', Booneville (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Charleston Express'', Charleston (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Greenwood Democrat'', Greenwood (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Paris Express'', Paris (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) *''Pine Bluff Commercial'', Pine Bluff (DAILY) #''White Hall Progress'', White Hall (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) *Central Arkansas weeklies (group of weekly newspapers that operates under one publisher) **Pulaski County: #''North Little Rock Times'', North Little Rock (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Jacksonville Patriot'', Jacksonville (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Sherwood Voice'', Sherwood (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Maumelle Monitor'', Maumelle (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) **Lonoke County: #''Cabot Star-Herald'', Cabot (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Lonoke Democrat'', Lonoke (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Carlisle Independent'', Carlisle (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''England Democrat'', England (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) **Elsewhere: #''Hot Springs Village Voice'', Hot Springs Village (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) #''Van Buren County Democrat'', Clinton (Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) Iowa *''

Ames Tribune ''The Ames Tribune'' is a newspaper published Tuesday through Sunday based in Ames, Iowa. The newspaper is owned by Gannett. In 1986, the ''Tribune'' was bought by Michael Gartner and Gary Gerlach, two former executives at ''The Des Moines Regist ...

'', Ames, IA (DAILY) #''Boone News-Republican'', Boone, IA (DAILY) # ''Dallas County News'', (Weekly) #''Algona Upper Des Moines'', Algona, IA (Weekly) #''Nevada Journal'', Nevada, IA (Weekly) #''Tri-County Times'', Nevada, IA (Weekly) #''Ames Sun'', Ames, IA (Weekly) #''Story County Advertiser'', Ames, IA (Weekly) Nevada #''Ely Times'', Ely, NV (Weekly, Fri.) #''Rebel Nation'', Las Vegas, NV (Monthly, 1st of month) #''Eureka Sentinel'', Eureka, NV (twice Weekly, Wed. & Fri.) #''Lincoln County Record'' (Weekly) North Carolina *''Courier-Tribune, Asheboro, NC (DAILY) Oklahoma *''

Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise The ''Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise'' is a daily newspaper in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It was owned and published by Stephens Media LLC until 2015, when the Stephens Media newspapers were sold to New Media Investment Group, the parent company o ...

'', Bartlesville, OK (DAILY) #''Pawhuska Journal-Capital'', Pawhuska, OK (twice Weekly, Wed. & Sat.) Texas *''

The Herald Democrat ''The Herald Democrat'' is a daily newspaper located in the twin cities of Sherman and Denison, Texas, in the United States. The ''Herald Democrat'' serves all of Grayson and Fannin County, Texas; parts of Collin, Cooke, Denton, Delta, Lamar ...

'', Sherman/Denison TX (DAILY except Saturday) #''Anna-Melissa Tribune'', Anna, TX (Weekly) #''Grayson County Shopper'', Sherman, TX (Weekly) #''Prosper Press'', Prosper, TX (Weekly) #''Van Alstyne Leader'', Van Alstyne, TX (Weekly) #''Lake Texoma Life'', Kingston, TX (Monthly, 1st of month) Tennessee *''

The Daily Herald ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * '' Barossa and Light Heral ...

'', Columbia, TN (DAILY) #'' The Advertiser News'', Spring Hill, TN (Weekly, Wed.) #''The Value Guide'', Columbia, TN (Weekly, Tues.) #''Franklin Life'', Franklin, TN (Monthly, 15th of month) #''Brentwood Life'', Brentwood, TN (Monthly, 1st of month) #''Healthy Living'', Columbia, TN (Monthly, 3rd Wed. each month)

News bureaus

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

References

{{Authority control Mass media in Nevada Newspaper companies of the United States Companies based in Las Vegas Privately held companies based in the Las Vegas Valley Publishing companies established in 1940 1940 establishments in Arkansas