Veteran Wyoming news execs announce agreement to save 8 newspapers
BUFFALO — Robb and Jen Hicks and Rob Mortimore announced Tuesday they have reached an agreement with News Media Corporation to buy the company’s Wyoming publications and resume publication immediately.
The announcement comes six days after News Media Corporation suddenly announced the immediate closure of all of its publications, including eight publications in Niobrara, Goshen, Platte, Sublette and Uinta counties and one paper in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Mortimore was president of an NMC subsidiary called Wyoming Newspapers Inc., which operated all eight Wyoming publications and the one publication in Scottsbluff.
Robb and Jen Hicks own and operate the Buffalo Bulletin, and though their paper was unaffiliated with the closures, they joined Mortimore in the effort to save these papers.
“It’s been a very hectic and exhausting six days,” Mortimore told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday. “We’re in a completely different place right now, and it’s a good spot for our newspapers. I’m excited to just be able to continue to publish newspapers in our communities.”
The agreement includes rehiring all 30 of the newspapers’ staff members and immediately resuming publication of all titles.
“We are honored to assume stewardship of these legacy community newspapers,” Robb Hicks said in a news release. “Our foremost priority has been to ensure that these counties are not left without a credible, enduring source of local journalism.”
In a statement, Mortimore added that the deal would not have been possible without the efforts of NMC CEO JJ Tompkins.
“It would have been far simpler for him to yield to the demands of creditors,” Mortimore said in the statement. “Instead, he chose to work with us to safeguard the future of these Wyoming communities, to preserve their newspapers, and to ensure that every employee was paid and retained.”
The deal is also a reflection of the dedicated staff who did not take these closures as a true ending, Pinedale Roundup Managing Editor Cali O’Hare said.
The Roundup was one of the papers impacted by NMC’s sudden closures.
“If Wyomingites had any doubt about the commitment of their news organizations, they need look no further than the staff at these eight community newspapers and our leadership, who spent the last week working tirelessly and against all the odds to protect these legacy publications,” O’Hare said. “We’re very proud to place Wyoming’s newspapers back into the hands of Wyoming people. That’s right where they belong, and we know they’ll be treasured.”
Less than a week ago, papers like the Roundup, the Torrington Telegram, the Platte County Record Times and the Guernsey Gazette were looking at certain closures. Their staff refused to accept that end, Platte County Record Times and Guernsey Gazette Managing Editor Marie Hamilton told the WTE.
“I didn’t stop working, and my community was very supportive of that,” Hamilton said. “I continue to go to town councils and whatever else. I kept going, just knowing that Rob (Mortimore) would take care of it. I didn’t know what that looked like, but I knew he would.”
Hamilton noted that this week has really solidified for her how much support there is for these papers in the community, and she hopes that it solidified for the community just how committed these journalists are to their jobs.
“This reinvigorated that commitment,” Hamilton said. “You don’t realize how much you love what you do and love your community until it’s suddenly gone.”
Both Hicks and Mortimore extended their appreciation to the newspapers’ staff for their dedication, professionalism and steadfast belief that a solution could be secured to revive these publications.
“We are equally grateful to community members for their unwavering support,” said Hicks. “A newspaper is the lifeblood of a community, but it can only thrive when the community it serves invests in its survival.”
All 30 Wyoming Newspaper Inc. employees that lost their jobs last week stayed and will be returning under the new agreement, Mortimore said.
“None of them took off and bailed, and they all stuck with it,” Mortimore said. “I admire their passion and their desire to bring the news, so I’m happy that we can deliver.”
Though the papers are remaining in their communities, they will no longer be operating under Wyoming Newspapers Inc. Instead, Hicks and Mortimore will form a new limited liability corporation — 100% Wyoming owned and operated — Mortimore said. The final cost of the deal is dependent on closing, which is expected to happen sometime later this week.
On Aug. 6, Tompkins, CEO of News Media Corporation, announced that the company’s eight publications in five Wyoming counties, as well as its newspapers in other states, would close immediately. Citing a “significant economic slowdown impacting our industry” and a recent failed attempt to sell the company, Tompkins said he had made the “difficult decision” to shutter the company’s newspapers immediately.
The publications impacted in Wyoming were the Torrington Telegram, Platte County Record-Times (Wheatland), Guernsey Gazette, Lusk Herald, Uinta County Herald (Evanston), Pinedale Roundup, Kemmerer Gazette and Bridger Valley Pioneer (Lyman).
The news of the papers’ closure was met with shock and sadness in the communities the papers serve. In Facebook comments, community members lamented the loss to their communities and questioned whether there might be ways to reopen the publications.
Mortimore has more than two decades of experience in the news industry, and he was the group publisher of News Media Corporation’s Wyoming publications prior to the company closing those papers. He will continue to serve as group publisher, according to the news release. He and his wife, Shaylee, live in Torrington.
Robb and Jen Hicks have owned and operated the Buffalo Bulletin in Johnson County since 1996. The Hicks family has multigenerational ties to Wyoming newspapers that dates back over seven decades, the release said.
This story was published on August 13, 2025.