Here’s two more newspaper deals worth noting

So far this has been a big year for newspaper M&As with deals on a record pace, reflecting the fast-changing economics of publishing as digital continues to take larger chunks of ad dollars.

This week two more deals were made for papers, both of them telling in terms of where the market is.

Gannett bought The Bergen (N.J.) Record, while Patrick Dolan bought back a 75 percent stake in Newsday from Altice, the French telecom giant that had bought the paper less than a month ago.

The Borg family legacy

The Record has belonged to the Borg family since 1930, and under their ownership became a training ground for journalists and an occasional Pulitzer Prize contender but never succeeded in its ambition to expand its reach across much of Northern New Jersey.

The Borgs sold it along with The Passaic County Herald News.

The deal makes Gannett the largest newspaper owner in New Jersey, and it reflects the difficulties family-owned papers face in the digital era.

But there are still families out there willing to go it alone, and the Dolans, longtime owners of Long Island’s Cablevision, appear to be among them. The family sold Newsday as part of the sale of Cablevision to Altice and then promptly bought it back.

The Dolan’s buy-back appears to be about much more than money.

The family appears to believe they have a responsibility to protect the journalistic integrity of the paper, which they bought from Tribune for a hefty $650 million in 2008, beating out both the New York Post and the Daily News.

In a memo to Newsday employees, Dolan writes, “After all, this is Newsday! A paper with seven decades of history, numerous Pulitzers, and a home to legends in our profession.”

The remaining 25 percent of Newsday will remain with Altice.

Tags: altice, bergen record, dolans, gannett, newsday, newspaper, newspapers