Report: Journal Inquirer Newspaper To Be Bought Out By Hearst

MANCHESTER, CT — Hearst Connecticut Media Group Thursday morning was reporting that it was about to acquire the Manchester-based Journal Inquirer newspaper, which covers 18 towns in north central Connecticut.

The report appeared via Hearst's Connecticut Insider platform. The JI has been covering the area for more than a half-century with a hard news approach under a tabloid format. The Hearst report suggested the deal could be done by the weekend.

Area real estate developer Neil Ellis, who co-founded the newspaper with his wife, pioneering media mogul Elizabeth Ellis, has been the publication's figurehead since Elizabeth's death in 2020 at the age of 92.

Neil and Betty Ellis in 1967 acquired the Rockville Journal and the South and East Windsor Inquirer, all weeklies. They often bragged that it all started in a garage in the historic Rockville area of Vernon.

The publications merged into the Journal Inquirer in 1968 and Betty Ellis assumed the title of assistant publisher in 1970 and publisher in 1973. The operation eventually moved into an industrial building on Progress Drive in Manchester.

The JI's motto had been to never shy away from hard-hitting local news, but it also embraced extensive coverage of sports, including high school and collegiate teams supplemented by popular features like snow sports, golf, bowling and auto racing columns.

The newspaper is one of the last independent news publications in Connecticut.