Rosemount Newspaper To Shutter Its Office

ROSEMOUNT, MN — A local newspaper is closing its doors as part of a larger business decision to consolidate resources and create a "regional newsroom." Publisher Neal Ronquist announced Wednesday the Farmington Rosemount Independent Town Pages office will close permanently Friday, Feb. 16.

The South Washington County Bulletin and Woodbury Bulletin offices will also close next Friday. All three newspapers are operated by RiverTown Multimedia, a division of Forum Communications.

"This closing continues our long-term strategy to consolidate the many units of our group into one team, operating out of fewer locations," Ronquist said in a statement on the Town Pages website. "This strategy reflects our position as a regional media company and not separate community operations. It also continues the strategy of directing our resources to content generation and sales, and away from bricks-and-mortar assets."

Advertising representative Gary Ball will be based in the Hastings Star Gazette office and will also work remotely, according to the newspaper. New regional editor Joe Brown will also work out of Hastings.

The publisher said readers of the three newspapers will not experience interruptions to their paper delivery

Minnesota Public Radio media blogger Bob Collins wrote the move "won't surprise anyone familiar with what's been happening to RiverTown Multimedia in recent years as the newspapers have combined staffs, laid off reporters and editors with the overlap, and became less local while proclaiming they wouldn't."

Forum Communications operates newspapers out of North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

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