The venerable weekly newspaper The Long-Islander has been struggling financially in recent months, according to numerous business leaders and investors.
Founded in 1838 by the poet Walt Whitman, the paper covers the entire Town of Huntington. The award-winning paper is known for its in-depth coverage of local business and political issues.
Like most American newspapers, the publication is fighting a decline in advertising revenue as readers turn to digital or TV news.
Several businesses that sell the weekly say that the paper hasn’t been delivered consistently to them for sale, skipping some weeks entirely. Others say that they haven’t received the paper for several weeks, only to have multiple editions arrive all at once.
Along with the Northport Observer, The Long-Islander contracts to publish legal advertising for the Town of Huntington.
The paper was bought in 2013 by a group of local business investors led by James V. Kelly, CEO of the JVKellyGroup, Inc. At the time, he was listed as publisher but that title is now held by Peter Sloggatt, who is also the managing editor.
Before that purchase, a Washington, D.C.-based investment company had agreed to buy the paper. But that deal fell through amid reports that the U.S. Labor Department was investigating the buyers over the handling of employee benefit plans at another publication in Illinois.