Shaw Media is set to buy four northern Illinois newspapers after their publisher abruptly shut down operations earlier this month.

The purchase is “a good fit,” Shaw Media’s President and Chief Executive Officer John Rung said.

News Media Corp. ended operations Aug. 6, the same day the company notified its employees in an email. The newspapers shut down include the Rochelle News-Leader, Ogle County LIFE, Ashton Gazette, Amboy News, Mendota Reporter, and three other northern Illinois newspapers, as well as newspapers in Arizona, South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming. In all, the company owned 34 newspaper offices in nine states, their website said.

Shaw Media is acquiring The Rochelle News-Leader, printed twice a week, and The Mendota Reporter and Ogle County Life, each printed weekly, as

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