Is GateHouse eyeing Ottaway chain?

Editor & Publisher speculates that GateHouse Media may be angling to buy Ottaway Newspapers, the chain that once owned the Joplin Globe:

Dow Jones & Co. is in play -- and it looked increasingly that way Tuesday -- then its Ottaway community newspaper chain is likely to find a ready bidder: GateHouse Media Inc.

GateHouse has been on an acquisition tear for the past year, and Ottaway publishes its kind of newspaper: mid-sized dailies that have a monopoly on the local news, and remain the most attractive medium for local advertisers.

Ottaway, which now calls itself "The Local Media Group of Dow Jones," also publishes in regions where GateHouse is growing. GateHouse relocated last year to the upstate New York community of Fairport, about 200 miles from Ottaway's long-time Campbell Hall, N.Y., headquarters. Both publish papers in upstate and along the Hudson Valley.

GateHouse is a natural for Ottaway, and CEO Mike Reed must be watching developments with interest. A spokesperson for GateHouse and its principal owner, the New York City private equity firm Fortress Investments, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on whether GateHouse is contemplating a move on Ottaway.

GateHouse Media publishes The Carthage Press, Neosho Daily News, Big Nickel, and the Neosho Post in the Joplin area.