Originally named the San Gabriel Valley News Group (SGVN), the organization was formed as an umbrella name for
MediaNews Group
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 ...
-operated newspapers in the Los Angeles area. SGVN began when MediaNews Group purchased the '' Pasadena Star-News'', ''
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
The ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' is a paid daily newspaper located in Monrovia, California, that serves the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley. It operated at the West Covina location from 1955 to 2015. The ''Tribune'' is a member of Souther ...
'', and ''
Whittier Daily News
The ''Whittier Daily News'' is a paid local daily newspaper for Whittier, California, United States. Coverage area includes Whittier, South Whittier, Pico Rivera, La Habra Heights, Santa Fe Springs and La Mirada. The ''Whittier Daily News'' is ...
'' from Thomson Corporation in 1996. Thomson had already operated all three newspapers as a unit, sharing news and sports sections among the three papers (which cover geographically adjacent territories) with different story placement based on the region being served. Subsequently, in 1997 the '' Long Beach Press-Telegram'' was purchased from Knight-Ridder and in 1998 the ''
Los Angeles Daily News
The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media.
The offices of the ''Dai ...
'' was purchased from Jack Kent Cooke, and the organization was renamed the Los Angeles News Group (LANG). In 1999, LANG acquired three newspapers in the
Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Daily Breeze'' serving the South Bay area of Los Angeles County from Copley Press.
On March 21, 2016, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Freedom Communications and its two major newspapers, the ''
Orange County Register
''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...
'' and the '' Riverside Press-Enterprise'' to Digital First Media. Thus, LANG was renamed Southern California News Group. The sale closed on March 31, 2016. Reports from former Freedom Communications writers began appearing in other SCNG newspapers, and vice versa, the next day.
The news coverage of the newspapers are mainly local and state stories, including Los Angeles area news provided by City News Service. The newspapers contain some national and international news, often from the Associated Press. The newspapers share coverage and printing presses, with a central copy editing and design desk, and staff writers file the same stories for all members of the group, including sharing sports beat writers, which has caused controversy. The newspapers also share editorials and speak as one voice on regional issues. Some have stated that the former Freedom Communications' distinctive conservative-
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
Donrey
Stephens Media LLC was a Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the California Newspapers Partnership and the ''Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette''.
The company had been expanding its int ...
Los Angeles Daily News
The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media.
The offices of the ''Dai ...
'' - Los Angeles metropolitan area (San Fernando Valley) and Northern Los Angeles County
* ''
Orange County Register
''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...
Donrey
Stephens Media LLC was a Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the California Newspapers Partnership and the ''Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette''.
The company had been expanding its int ...
Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
The ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' is a paid daily newspaper located in Monrovia, California, that serves the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley. It operated at the West Covina location from 1955 to 2015. The ''Tribune'' is a member of Souther ...
'' - Monrovia serving the central and east San Gabriel Valley
* ''
Whittier Daily News
The ''Whittier Daily News'' is a paid local daily newspaper for Whittier, California, United States. Coverage area includes Whittier, South Whittier, Pico Rivera, La Habra Heights, Santa Fe Springs and La Mirada. The ''Whittier Daily News'' is ...
'' - Whittier serving the Pico Rivera and Whittier areas
Also included are the community weeklies, which include the ''Palos Verdes Peninsula News'' and '' The Beach Reporter'', which publishes on Thursdays with the ''Daily Breeze'', the ''Gazette'' weeklies cover the Long Beach neighborhoods north and east of downtown, also on Thursdays. The ''Orange County Register'' publishes a total of seventeen community weeklies covering most of Orange County, with the exception of Santa Ana.
Spanish-language weeklies include ''Excelsior'' which have two editions for Los Angeles and Orange counties and ''La Prensa'', which covers the Inland Empire.
The inland newspapers (''Daily Bulletin'', ''Daily Facts'', ''Press-Enterprise'', and ''Sun'') are further subdivided into the Inland Newspapers Group with combined business operations. The former SGVN newspapers are also operated as an integrated business unit, out of the ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' offices in Monrovia (with the Pasadena office serving as a bureau for the greater Pasadena area). The ''Daily Breeze'' and ''Press-Telegram'' also have integrated business operations. The union for the ''Press-Telegram'', which was inherited from Knight-Ridder operation, has criticized the demotion of the ''Press-Telegram'' Long Beach offices to a bureau, with most work done out of the ''Daily Breeze'' in Torrance.
Prior to the merger with the Freedom newspapers, LANG identified themselves as editions of the ''Los Angeles Daily News'' in order to make LANG a "Top Ten" media buy as ranked by the Alliance for Audited Media. The combined readership of SCNG newspapers is 3.8 million, which if combined would make it the third largest newspaper group in the country. Effective April 1, 2018, all ten daily newspapers covering Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, along with seventeen community weeklies covering Orange County now identify themselves as editions of the ''Register'' on the front page.