"The best part of the acquisition is gaining valuable team members to join our Independent Newsmedia family.”

Charlene Bisson

Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA continues to expand its footprint in the Phoenix Metro market.

The Phoenix group, home of the Daily Independent at YourValley.net, acquired JG Media National’s Phoenix operations, which includes Community Impact of Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe. The purchase connects the Independent’s East Valley cities with Mesa and Queen Creek.

“We’re thrilled to return to our roots in Gilbert and Chandler where we published community newspapers for years,” said President & CEO Charlene Bisson. “The best part of the acquisition is gaining valuable team members to join our Independent Newsmedia family.”

Longtime Valley journalist Tom Blodgett remains the editor of the Gilbert edition while Alexa D’Angelo continues to serve as Chandler editor.

Community Impact, a Texas based company owned by John and Jennifer Garrett, entered the Gilbert market in 2018, where it grew into Chandler and most recently Tempe where Independent Newsmedia also publishes a newspaper.

“Although we are leaving the Phoenix metro," Garrett stated, "we are proud of the work we have done and thankful for the relationships we have built. Jennifer and I are thankful we are now able to focus on our desire to build up our Texas operations.”

“The acquisition made sense as we were planning to enter the Chandler and Gilbert market this fall,” Bisson explained. “We’ll continue their good work with hyperlocal business, transportation and development, city and school coverage, and we’ll expand on that.”

The newspapers will be rebranded with the “Independent” name in their mastheads. “The rebranding will give our publications a uniform look and help readers and advertisers throughout the Valley better connect all our publications as being published by Independent Newsmedia,” Bisson added.

“More importantly, the name better reflects our news values and the mission we’ve pursued for over 50 years here in the Valley of the Sun — that we are your nonpartisan and very independent hometown newspaper.”

The company has been publishing in Arizona since 1970.

“We love Arizona and we’ll continue to grow our operations here,” Bisson said.

The company opened two newspapers during the pandemic – Florence and Mesa – and expanded its Scottsdale circulation last October, circulating to 100,000 homes monthly in the mailbox. The Arizona group launched the Tempe Independent in April.

Independent Newsmedia owns Valley Newspapers, a state-of-the-art commercial printing plant that is located near Deer Valley Airport. The company also publishes community newspapers in Delaware, Florida and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and owns a press in Delaware.

The company is owned by a nonprofit journalistic trust designed to maintain independence. The organization has no shareholders, no dividends are paid, and all after-tax profits are reinvested in its mission of impartial community journalism.

Charlene Bisson can be reached at cbisson@iniusa.org or followed on Twitter @Charlene_Bisson.