Political blog buys The Albany Journal

A political blog is buying an Albany newspaper.

In what appears to be a first of its kind move, Knighton Media, Inc. signed a contract to purchase the community-based paper The Albany Journal.

Knighton is a company formed to run the Albany political blog called Laws-N-Sausages.

Knighton has been writing a column for The Albany Journal for almost two years.

Sunday night, current owner Kevin Hogencamp, signed the papers to hand the Journal over to Knighton.

Tom Knighton is known around Albany for his political blog, Laws-n-Sausages.com.

"The quote goes " says Tom Knighton, Knighton Media CEO.

Since Knighton was young, he has wanted to be a newspaper man.

"Being a journalist is just something I have always wanted to do, and when an opportunity like that drops in your lap, you do not turn it down," says Knighton.

But why would a blogger want to purchase a newspaper, considering the perception around the country is that newspapers are dying.

"This paper has not been dying, this paper is not dying at all, it is doing very well, and it turns out their is a trend throughout the country for community papers," says Knighton.

And he says the reason is people care about what is happening in their neighborhoods.

"If President Obama signs a bill in Washington, it may have no impact on anybody in Albany, but if the city commissioner passes a new ordinance, chances are, it is going to impact you in some way," says Knighton.

As far as he knows, this is the first time that a blog has bought a newspaper.

The Journal's current owner, Kevin Hogencamp, was not available for an interview, but says he is confident that Tom Knighton will do a fabulous job as the newspaper enters a new era.

"We have a lot of the same vision for what the paper is supposed to be," says Knighton.

Knighton has some minor changes in mind, but has no interest in changing the paper's content, just for the sake of change.

"The journal has been doing well over the last few years while Kevin has been running it and I will operate under the assumption of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," says Knighton.

The first change he is planning on making to the Journal is adding a book review column to focus on local authors.

Knighton would not disclose what he paid for the Albany Journal.

If you want to check out his Albany area political blog, click http://laws-n-sausages.com/.

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