Mariner Group, based in

Marshfield, Massachusetts Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census. It includes the census-designated places (CDPs) of Marshfield, Marshfield Hills, Ocean Bluf ...

, United States, was a chain of

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

s in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

an South Shore near Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1972 with one paper, the ''Marshfield Mariner'', the group was sold in 1989 to

Capital Cities A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and again in 1995 to

Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is on ...

, which dissolved it into

Community Newspaper Company Community Newspaper Company, or CNC, was the largest publisher of weekly newspapers in eastern Massachusetts in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century. It also published several daily newspapers in Greater Boston. The company's propertie ...

a few months later. Today, several of the Mariner papers still publish as part of CNC, now owned by GateHouse Media. Many of the others were folded into former competitors after CNC acquired Mariner's chief competitor,

Memorial Press Group Memorial Press Group, based in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States, was a chain of weekly newspapers along the South Shore near Boston, Massachusetts. Long owned by ''The Patriot Ledger'' in nearby Quincy, MPG and its daily parent were sold ...

History

David S. Cutler, a former reporter for '' The Patriot Ledger'' and son of the publisher of the weekly ''Duxbury Clipper'', started the ''Marshfield Mariner'' weekly in 1972 and expanded his holdings to include 17

s—including several startup ''Mariner''s—by 1989. He sold the company that year to

for an estimated

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

7 or

8 million.

bid for the papers at that time but was unsuccessful.Berner, Robert. "Fidelity Finishing Deal to Buy Mariner Weeklies". ''The Patriot Ledger'' (Quincy, Mass.), page 17, January 13, 1995. In 1993, the company bought the competing ''Hingham Journal'', founded in 1827, and folded it into the ''Hingham Mariner''. In 1994, Capital Cities announced it would sell all 74 of its newspapers in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, including the Mariner chain. Fidelity, always considered a strong contender to buy Mariner, bought another large suburban chain of weeklies, News-Transcript Group, in late 1994, fueling speculation that a deal for Mariner was close behind. At the same time, ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' was said to be interested in buying the South Shore weeklies. The deal was not struck until early 1995, however. Fidelity's subsidiary,

, purchased Mariner for an undisclosed sum. At the time, CNC chairman William Elfers said Mariner "sort of fills out the map," giving CNC an uninterrupted belt of papers surrounding

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, from

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

through MetroWest to the Massachusetts North Shore. The Mariner purchase raised CNC's weekly circulation to 1,018,000. Mariner Group was dissolved in early 1996, when CNC realigned its operating units by geography. The ''Mariners'' became the core of the new South Unit.

Properties

At the time of its sale to CNC in 1995, Mariner Group consisted of the following weeklies: * ''Abington-Rockland Mariner'' of Abington and

Rockland Rockland may refer to: People *Per Bergsland, nicknamed Peter Rockland, one of three successful escapees from Stalag Luft III (the "Great Escape") Places ;In Canada *Rockland, Greater Victoria *Rockland, Nova Scotia *Rockland, Ontario ;In the Uni ...

(now called ''The Mariner'' and covering only Abington) * ''Braintree Forum'' of Braintree * ''Canton Journal'' of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

* ''Cohasset Mariner'' of Cohasset * ''Easton Journal'' of Easton * ''Hanover Mariner'' of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

* ''Hingham Mariner'' of Hingham (later renamed ''The Hingham Journal'') * ''Holbrook Sun'' of

Holbrook Holbrook may refer to: Places England *Holbrook, Derbyshire, a village *Holbrook, Somerset, a hamlet in Charlton Musgrove *Holbrook, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, a former mining village in Mosborough ward, now known as Halfway *Holbrook, Suffolk, a ...

* ''Kingston Mariner'' of

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

(later folded into the ''Kingston Reporter'') * ''Marshfield Mariner'' of Marshfield (the original ''Mariner'') * ''Norwell Mariner'' of Norwell * ''Pembroke Mariner'' of Pembroke (later combined into the ''Pembroke Mariner & Reporter'') * ''Randolph Mariner'' of

Randolph Randolph may refer to: Places In the United States * Randolph, Alabama, an unincorporated community * Randolph, Arizona, a populated place * Randolph, California, a village merged into the city of Brea * Randolph, Illinois, an unincorporated commun ...

(later folded into the ''Randolph Herald'') * ''Scituate Mariner'' of

Scituate Scituate is the name of some communities in New England in the United States: *Brunswick, Maine, formerly named Scituate *Scituate, Massachusetts, a New England town **Scituate (CDP), Massachusetts, an area in the town of Scituate *Scituate, Rhode ...

* ''Stoughton Journal'' of Stoughton * ''Weymouth News'' of Weymouth After the dissolution of Mariner Group, CNC started a ''Duxbury Mariner'' in

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

, but closed that paper in 1999 after losing a newspaper war with the ''Duxbury Reporter'', part of

, and the longtime leader, the ''Duxbury Clipper'', of which David Cutler had become publisher.Preer, Robert. "Duxbury Mariner Stops Presses". ''The Boston Globe'', February 21, 1999. For a few months following GateHouse Media's purchase of CNC and Memorial Press Group in 2006, the new sister companies continued to publish competing titles in several South Shore towns. Eventually the duplications were eliminated, leading to the closure of the Kingston and Randolph ''Mariners'', and the ''Abington-Rockland Mariner'' ceasing Rockland coverage.

References

{{CNC Mass media in Plymouth County, Massachusetts Newspapers published in Massachusetts Defunct newspaper companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts