The Pine Bluff Commercial has been acquired by Arkansas-based Newsroom Ventures LLC. Terms of the sale weren't disclosed.
Roby Brock, CEO and publisher of Newsroom Ventures, said he was “honored to carry forward the legacy” of the newspaper, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969.
“On behalf of our news organization, we are very excited to be coming to Pine Bluff with a product I hope you find dynamic, informative and truly representative of the community and region,” Brock said in a letter to readers published Tuesday in the Commercial.
This is the sixth Arkansas newspaper Newsroom Ventures has acquired since July.
“I think it's important to preserve these local newspapers,” Brock said. “They are the primary source of where people at the local level, those small towns, get their news.”
Brock said he has a particular fondness for Pine Bluff.
“I worked in Pine Bluff years ago and have always felt an affinity and appreciation for the city and the people who live here,” Brock wrote in his letter to readers. “Pine Bluff is a special place and is an important contributor to our state's economy and culture. It is crucially important to continue the strong community news reporting that has been taking place over the last several years.”
Brock said he was asking that the current staff remain in place, and he hopes for growth in the months and years to come.
“We will continue to make investments in our news product to serve our readers and the community and look forward to long-term success,” he wrote.
The Commercial was founded in 1881. Paul Greenberg, the newspaper's editorial page editor, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for editorials he wrote the previous year on civil rights.
In 2020, WEHCO Newspapers, Inc. of Little Rock acquired the Commercial from Gannett. Before that change, the Commercial was published and printed five days a week.
Since then, the Commercial has been published as a four-to-six-page addition to the Arkansas section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette seven days a week. The Democrat-Gazette publishes a daily digital replica newspaper, delivered on an Apple iPad or other computer device.
“We have attempted to provide a quality newspaper for the past five years,” Walter Hussman Jr., chairman of WEHCO Media, said of the Commercial. “We believe Newsroom Ventures LLC shares our commitment to customers, employees and the community. We received strong support from the Pine Bluff community, where local investors purchased $400,000 of preferred stock in the Pine Bluff Commercial to help us launch our iPad program for subscribers. We will acquire all of that preferred stock at par value. Subscribers can still use those iPads to read the Pine Bluff Commercial and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.”
Besides providing news about Pine Bluff daily at www.PBCommercial.com, Brock said, he'll launch a weekly printed newspaper for pickup and delivery starting Friday. He said the first print edition will probably be 12 pages.
Brock said the yearly subscription rate will be $50.
Current subscribers will receive a complimentary copy for the first two months, Brock said. More details on subscriptions and places to buy the paper will be announced in the weeks ahead.
“For the Pine Bluff Commercial to grow, we will need your support — support us through your subscriptions and advertising, but most importantly by trusting us to share your stories and to be a resource for fair and accurate news,” Brock said in his letter to readers. “Be patient with us as we work through our transition. I promise the result will be a news product you can trust, embrace and be very proud to call your hometown news.”
Current Pine Bluff subscribers will continue to have full access to the Democrat-Gazette.
Eliza Gaines, publisher of the Democrat-Gazette, said the statewide newspaper will continue to publish news from Jefferson County.
“Through an agreement with the newspaper's new owner, the Democrat-Gazette will continue publishing multiple stories each week about the people, issues and events shaping Jefferson County,” Gaines wrote in a letter to readers that was published in the Commercial on Tuesday. “While Jefferson County news will no longer appear in a dedicated section of the Democrat-Gazette print edition and digital replica as of April, 1, 2026, our commitment to covering communities across Arkansas remains unchanged.
“If you received a company-owned iPad with your subscription, you're welcome to continue reading the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on the device as long as you continue subscribing. In addition, if you currently receive a printed Sunday newspaper, that service will continue as well. We will continue to invoice or automatically draft your subscription cost unless you notify us that you wish to cancel your subscription.”
In December, WEHCO Media sold three of its newspapers in Missouri — The Jefferson City News Tribune, the Fulton Sun and the California Democrat — to Faughn Media LLC. A media company based in Jefferson City, Missouri, Faughn currently publishes the Missouri Times, a political news outlet.
In February, I.C. Murrell was named editor of The Pine Bluff Commercial, replacing Byron Tate.
Newsroom Ventures is a privately held company based in Little Rock. It owns and manages newspapers and media products, including The England Democrat, The Grand Prairie Herald, The Fordyce News Advocate, The Waldron News, The Glenwood Herald and now The Pine Bluff Commercial.
Brock said he bought the England newspaper in July and the others since Jan. 1.
“There is a business model that I have been working on that works,” he said. “It's not rocket science. It's a combination of advertising and subscriptions. You've got to get a good mixture of news in these products.”
While small-town papers in Arkansas sometimes do a good job covering the city council, there's often not a lot of enterprise reporting or news specific to local people and businesses, Brock said.
“I think that's been one of the successes that we've had,” he said. "I've had people stop me and tell me, 'I learn something in the newspaper every time I read it' or 'I appreciate you putting those agriculture reports in there because I don't get that news anywhere else.' In farming communities, that's really important to those folks.”
Brock said small-town newspapers provide a sense of identity in addition to providing a historical record.
Brock said some of the newspapers he has acquired were family-owned for generations.
“I think the main reason most of these have been selling is because they've been older ownership, and they don't know what to do,” he said. “There's no one in the generation below them to take them over.”
WEHCO Media is a diversified communications company with interests in newspaper publishing, cable television and digital services. The company has been family-owned since its founding in 1909.
It operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and cable television companies in five states.
