''The Citizen'' was a six-day-a-week, morning

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

Laconia, New Hampshire Laconia is a city in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,871 at the 2020 census, up from 15,951 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Belknap County. Laconia, situated between Lake Winnipesaukee and Lak ...

, United States, and it was the largest paid subscription local paper serving the Lakes Region of that state. It was owned since 2010 by Sample News Group of

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, and managed by Eagle Printing & Publishing of

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. The paper suspended publication with its edition of September 30, 2016, citing rising costs in printing and production and inability to find a buyer for the newspaper.

History

''The Citizen'' was formerly an afternoon paper called the ''Laconia Evening Citizen'' and was launched by former Laconia Mayor Edward J. Gallagher in 1926. It was owned by Gallagher's daughter, Alma Gallagher Smith, and her husband, Lawrence J. Smith, following Edward Gallagher's death in 1978. The Smiths operated the newspaper until the Geo. J. Foster Company purchased the paper on May 10, 1991. Foster was the publisher of ''

Foster's Daily Democrat ''Foster's Daily Democrat'' is a six-day (Monday–Saturday) morning broadsheet newspaper published in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, covering southeast New Hampshire and southwest Maine. In addition to its Dover headquarters, ''Foster's'' ...

'' in

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. In the late 1990s, the Foster Company launched ''Foster's Sunday Citizen'' as a joint venture by ''Foster's Daily Democrat'' and ''The Citizen'', neither of which previously had a Sunday edition. In November 2006, ''The Citizen'' converted to morning publication; Foster's followed a year later. The company made the change in order to compete with nearby papers such as the ''

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'' and the ''

Concord Monitor The ''Concord Monitor'' is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers surrounding towns in Merrimack County, most of Belknap County, as well as portions of Grafton, Rockingham and Hillsborough counties ...

''. The Foster Company announced on June 23, 2010, that it would sell the paper on June 26, in order to concentrate on their main property, ''Foster's Daily Democrat''. The company said it would continue to print ''The Citizen'' and the Laconia edition of the ''Sunday Citizen'' at its presses for at least the next three months. The new owner was Sample News Group, publisher of multiple daily and weekly newspapers across the northeastern United States. Sample News Group also owns and operates The Eagle Times of Claremont, in New Hampshire.

Features

The "Citizen Weekender" on Saturday features a "local" section, which includes the "History" section, a look back at Laconia from 125, 100, 75, 50, 25, and 10 years ago with articles from local newspapers of that time, as well as an old photograph of an area in Laconia (including Weirs Beach and Lakeport) with a description below it, then a current picture of the same area with an updated view. The newspaper also features a weekly roundup online called "Busted in Belknap" which is a photo gallery of individuals who have been arrested and incarcerated at the Belknap County Jail.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Citizen Newspapers published in New Hampshire Belknap County, New Hampshire Laconia, New Hampshire