The Columbus Dispatch has a new owner!

The Columbus Dispatch, long the dominant voice of conservative Ohio journals, has been sold.  The buyer in this apocalyptic transaction is the New Media Investment Group, Inc. of a New York, which owns other papers, including the Canton Repository.

Here's what John Wolfe, of the paper's historic family owner, had to say about it:

John F. Wolfe, chairman and publisher of The Dispatch, said the decision to sell was extraordinarily difficult, and only made after several years of careful assessment of the changing media landscape. 

“We are proud of our 110-year legacy of family ownership of The Dispatch, and the newspaper’s heritage of quality journalism and community involvement,” Wolfe said. 
“However, the past two decades of accelerating and challenging change in the newspaper industry made it clear to us that maintaining a single-city, family-owned paper in this environment was untenable long-term,” he said. 

“We remain committed to Columbus, and our family will continue to be fully involved in the civic, community and philanthropic endeavors that promote the high quality of life that exists in central Ohio,” Wolfe said. 

More later on the "changing media landscape" that  made the sale "extraordinarily difficult".  But as we all know these days, everything has a a price.