Lee Enterprises, a national newspaper chain with a significant footprint in Montana, has announced the acquisition of the Great Falls Tribune.
The move expands Lee’s ownership of newspapers in nearly all of the state’s major cities, including Helena, Missoula, Billings and Butte. The company shared an announcement Monday through its Montana papers and in a separate announcement to investors.
“We’re proud to expand the communities we serve in Montana to include Great Falls, a city with a strong identity and an important story to tell,” Nathan Bekke, Lee’s president and chief executive officer, said in the Montana announcement. “We look forward to listening to residents and investing in journalism that reflects the people, businesses and issues shaping Great Falls and north-central Montana.”
As part of the deal announced Monday, Lee acquired the Tribune and three South Dakota papers from USA Today Co., which was formerly called Gannett. As part of the transaction, USA Today Co. will assume full ownership of the Tucson-based Arizona Daily Star, which was formerly co-owned with Lee. The transactions are in “strategic agreements” stages, according to the announcement.
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Jim Strauss, who started as executive editor at the Tribune in 1995 and eventually became its publisher, told Montana Free Press Monday that the move makes sense — both financially and editorially.
“With Lee’s reach across Montana, with its strong state bureau, that is going to immediately benefit Great Falls readers,” he said. “That is immediately going to enhance the local news content of the Tribune. I’m happy for the community.”
He added that, from a business perspective, there are administrative and editorial benefits to having other newspapers in Montana cities and sharing coverage and resources. The Great Falls Tribune had been the only Montana outlet for USA Today Co. since 1990, when the national chain acquired it.
After leaving the Tribune, Strauss worked as publisher of the Missoulian, a Lee paper, from 2018 to 2022. He’s now the communication and development director for the Montana Newspaper Association. He said that early in his time at the Great Falls Tribune, the paper’s parent company provided ample resources. But that waned in more recent years.
“Since then our industry has gone through a lot of tumult,” he said. “I think that as Gannett realigned, let’s be honest — the resources I had to work with are not there anymore.”
The Tribune has been a major media outlet in Great Falls for more than a century. The Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2000 for a series on the impacts of alcoholism in the community.
Local editorial coverage by the Tribune has waned in recent years. The company sold its landmark waterfront building in 2022, and many of its archives were saved by a community philanthropist. The paper now has one editorial staffer and rarely produces local community news, though it does report on area sports.
Tracy Rouch, Lee’s director of communications, did not respond to a follow-up question about staffing plans by publication Monday.
Prior to the acquisition, Lee described itself as owning 193 media brands across 28 states.
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