HUTCHINSON — Hutchinson-based Harris Enterprises will sell its six newspapers, including the Ottawa Herald. Harris president Bruce Buchanan said the company made the announcement in an effort to be transparent with its employees and communities. The process of selling the papers through a broker could take six months, Buchanan said. The company will try to sell all six newspapers as a group but could split them up among multiple buyers, he said. The company was formed when the Harris family bought the Herald in 1907. Harris also owns the papers in Hutchinson, Salina, Garden City, Hays and Burlington, Iowa. The announcement was made Friday — the same day the Simons family announced the sale of the Lawrence Journal-World and its other papers to the West Virginia-based Ogden Newspapers. Ogden publishes 40 daily newspapers, several magazines, weekly newspapers and shoppers, mostly in the eastern U.S. However, Ogden also owns Capper’s Magazine, Capper’s Insurance Services, Mother Earth News, and Utne Reader in Topeka.
Tuesday, June 21, 4 p.m.
