File Photo
WPRO News and Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The publisher of The Providence Journal has announced he will retire as the paper is sold.
The Journal reported Friday that Howard Sutton will retire in September.
The parent company of Gatehouse Media is buying the Journal and related print and digital assets from A.H. Belo Corp. for $46 million.
Sutton will be a consultant for the New York-based New Media Investment Group Inc. through the end of the year. The deal is expected to be complete in the third quarter.
Bernie Szachara will serve as interim publisher. Szachara is the senior vice president for publishing at a division of GateHouse Media.
Sutton says he’s proud of his 41-year career.
Sutton’s former boss, Robert Decherd, says Sutton guided the paper through the most difficult period ever for American newspapers.
