The 137-year-old continuous publication, The Chesterton Tribune, has sold to Don Hurd, the president of Hometown Media Inc. The Chesterton Tribune has been NWI’s longest-running newspaper since 1884. The Tribune has focused on the local Northwest Indiana towns such as Burns Harbor, Chesterton, Porter, and the Duneland area in Porter County. The Tribune has been a local newspaper and family-owned which makes this change so important and impactful to citizens of Chesterton.

The new owner, Don Hurd, is a Ball State graduate and the president of Hometown Media Inc. He visited Chesterton and concluded that he liked the area and the town so he bought the Chesterton Tribune newspaper. The Chesterton Tribune has slightly struggled during the Covid pandemic because it is a family-owned business and is locally operated. David Canright, a previous publisher, stated in a farewell column and rumored the last issue that he saw, “no viable path to continuing a printed version of the paper while giving local news the space it deserves”. 

Don Hurd has worked in newspaper management for over 40 years. His company ‘Hometown Media Inc.’ operates many community newspapers across Indiana, including the Huntington County TAB, The Paper of Wabash County, the North Manchester News-Journal, and now the Chesterton Tribune. 

Back in December of 2020, the owners of the Chesterton Tribune, the Canright family, stated on their website “This was not an easy decision to make, and the publishers deeply regret that this step is necessary. A variety of factors led to the decision, including the decline in hands-on print publications and the economic impact of the nation’s failure to curb COVID-19. Until that time, this newspaper will cover local news as if there was no tomorrow.”

Their last print was December 30th, 2020. Back in December, they hinted towards online publication but said that the future of the newspaper was unclear. This being said, the Chesterton Tribune has been slowing down production and looking to stop print for 2-3 months now. 

The terms aren’t fully disclosed and the supposed new owner of the newspaper did not respond to questions asked about the ownership other than saying, “News travels fast.”