CPI Buys Elkins Weekly

In mid-May, Community Publishers Inc. of Bentonville announced that it had purchased the last independently owned weekly newspaper in Washington County, the White River Valley News of Elkins. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

The 20-month-old Valley News has a circulation of 1,200.

The deal gives CPI its first weekly in Washington County. It already owns all of the weeklies in Benton County. All of the newspapers in Washington County are now owned by CPI or its rival, Donrey Media Group of Fort Smith.

CPI, which is owned primarily by the Walton family of Bentonville, is part of an “alliance” with Walter Hussman’s Wehco Media Inc. of Little Rock, which owns the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.