It was in early February 2023 that the GazetteLeader sprang to life to address an increasing void of media coverage in Northern Virginia. The effort was spearheaded by Jim O’Rourke and O’Rourke Media Group, which has been successful across the nation in nurturing media outlets with high-quality local news coverage and laser-focused advertising-sales staffs.
The stars did not completely align in the local area, and as this week’s edition notes, O’Rourke Media Group is selling the GazetteLeader to Local News Now, which over the past 15 years has grown from bootstrapped startup to a rock-solid purveyor of local news and advertising across the region.
As part of this evolution, the print edition of the GazetteLeader will be no more. Some of the news staff will transition to Local News Now, providing content for the online ARLnow, FFXnow and ALXnow news sites. We hope you will follow familiar bylines to those sites.
We who toil in local newsgathering, and the business operation that supports it, have been on a wild ride over the past two decades. For our part, we can say without reservation or hesitation that the O’Rourke group is high-class and was a pleasure to work under. Departing the local market wasn’t an easy choice for them, but these things happen, and we wish our O’Rourke Media Group colleagues across the company (and country) the very best.
Those of us who do this job aren’t in it for the glory or, these days, for the job security. We do, however, have the satisfaction of knowing that helping to inform our neighbors of the news around them is, today, as vital as ever.
– Scott McCaffrey, editor, GazetteLeader
