SHERMAN OAKS : Council Proposes Local Newspaper

The Sherman Oaks Town Council has discussed ways to encourage the establishment of a community newspaper with a strong focus on local news.

“This is a gap that’s missing,” Nancy Schmidt, president of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce, said last week. “It provides a way for the women’s club to talk about what they’re doing, or for the YMCA to talk about what they’re doing.”

Two options for nurturing a newspaper were discussed by the Town Council last week. One option would be for one of the council’s member-entities to contract with a newsletter company, which would publish the newspaper. The other is to support an independent newspaper publisher’s establishment of a newspaper.

Hall Media Group--which publishes the Santa Monica News, Brentwood News and Westwood News--is said to be considering the Sherman Oaks-Studio City area for a possible fourth edition.

“(Publisher Jeff Hall said) he is investigating this area,” said Schmidt. “His company is determining whether there is enough financial support--in other words, advertising--to develop a paper.”