As of April 1, 2015, Scripps Treasure Coast newspapers will become part of Journal Media Group out of Milwaukee. Time will tell if this is good news for readers of three former local newspapers — Vero Beach Press Journal, Ft. Pierce Tribune and Stuart News — who saw their long time dailies combined into essentially one Treasure Coast daily after Scripps acquired them.

Vero Beach and Indian River County readers have complained about a perceived declining focus on their market with increased emphasis on the two more southern counties. Scripps’ recent relocation out of the Press Journal building on U.S. 1 into much smaller rental offices in the Seminole Building downtown have added to that perception. Currently, the Newsweekly supplement to Wednesday’s Press Journal does focus entirely on the local market.

The Newsweekly was originally created by Mark Schumann, who left the company in 2013 after publishing stories that questioned the Vero Electric/FPL deal being endorsed by Scripps. Together, he and I started InsideVero to report on important local issues. For more on the merger/sale  read this article from the March 13, 2015 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Journal, Scripps corporate split to take place April 1

PAUL GORES/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

The publishing and broadcast divisions of Journal Communications Inc. will go their separate ways on April 1.