Santa Fe Reporter, 50-years young, returns to New Mexico ownership with deal to join Ctrl+P Publishing Group

Over the past 20 years, big corporate news outlets have hollowed out local newsrooms and allowed local news voices to wither. Thanks to local news fans here in New Mexico who helped with large and small investments alike, we are giving local newsrooms back to local journalists and building a platform to have a statewide impact on some of the biggest issues facing New Mexico.”

Pat Davis, publisher, Santa Fe Reporter

Fresh off its 50th anniversary celebration, the Santa Fe Reporter is returning to New Mexico ownership in a deal announced today by its former owner/publisher and the local Ctrl+P Publishing Group (newmexico.news).

Richard Meeker and Mark Zusman, publisher and editor, respectively, of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon, owned the paper for 27 years. While Meeker and Zusman remain stalwart advocates for alternative weekly papers, they say the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of local ownership. Thus, with plans for a new undertaking in Oregon, they announced the Reporter’s sale in March and their intention to only sell to a local buyer with a similar understanding and commitment to the kind of journalism the Reporter produces.

In an interview in the Reporter, Meeker noted that several interested parties approached him after the sale was announced in the spring, but only Pat Davis appeared to have the same understanding of and commitment to the Reporter's brand of journalism. "I’m comfortable saying we’re leaving the Reporter in far better shape than we found it, and I’m thrilled we’ve found the person to take the helm of this civic treasure," Meeker says.

Ctrl+P Publishing is the Reporter’s new owner and Davis, 45, its president and owner, will serve as the Reporter’s new publisher. Since 2021, Ctrl+P has grown to be one of the largest news providers in the state through several other New Mexico publications it has either begun or purchased: The Paper., a weekly, and City Desk ABQ, a new daily digital startup, both in Albuquerque, and local papers the Corrales Comment, the Sandoval Signpost, and The Independent News in Edgewood.

With the acquisition of the Reporter, Ctrl+P Publishing now reaches more than 200,000 unique online and email subscribers each week, all through free local news products and shared state news and features. The combined subscriber list is believed to be the largest in the state. 

“Over the past 20 years, big corporate news outlets have hollowed out local newsrooms and allowed local news voices to wither,” says Davis. “Thanks to local news fans here in New Mexico who helped with large and small investments alike, we are giving local newsrooms back to local journalists and building a platform to have a statewide impact on some of the biggest issues facing New Mexico.” 

Davis, a former police officer, nonprofit leader and recovering politician, launched Ctrl+P in 2022 as a lab for preserving trusted local news brands for communities across New Mexico. By combining digital community engagement with trusted news brands, Ctrl+P helps local newsrooms navigate the new digital-print news landscape.

The Reporter’s interim editor, Julia Goldberg, is returning to freelance work— including for the Reporter—after the transition. Ctrl+P will launch a local and national search for a new editor later this month, Davis says.

Ctrl+P Publishing was represented in the transaction by Blackgarden Law of Albuquerque.

Ctrl+P Publishing and its brands are members of the Association of Alternative News Publishers (AAN), LION Publishers, New Mexico Out Business Alliance, the New Mexico Press Association. Publications under Ctrl+P's banner have received generous support from the New Mexico Local News Fund and Citizen Media Group.

Learn more about Ctrl+P Publishing: About us.