Today marks the 10th anniversary of the first edition of The Item produced by Essex Media Group (EMG), which acquired the paper on Oct. 17, 2014.
The purchase, from Hastings and Son Publishing Company, represented the first change of ownership in the paper’s then-136-year history.
Bucking a troubling trend of locally-owned papers being bought and dismantled by chains, the seven members of EMG all have local ties: President and Publisher Edward M. Grant, Chairman and CEO Michael H. Shanahan, and Edward L. Cahill grew up in Lynn; John M. Gilberg, Gordon R. Hall, Monica Connell Healey, and J. Patrick Norton still live, and in some cases work, in the area.
Grant said a primary motivation for the group in purchasing The Item was to preserve a local institution. The group continues to endeavor to inform Lynn-area readers of happenings in their own communities.
The front page of the Oct. 18, 2014 Item was a stunning photo, taken by photographer Mark Garfinkel, of a sunrise over Egg Rock, with the headline “Dawn of a new day.”
As of today, it has become “Dawn of a new decade.”
