The Santa Clarita Valley Signal

The Santa Clarita Valley Signal is a newspaper in Santa Clarita, California, originally founded in 1919. The owners are Richard and Chris Budman.
The Signal covers the city of Santa Clarita and surrounding unincorporated areas in the Santa Clarita Valley, about northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It covers community news, which includes government and politics, business, elementary, secondary and college education, public safety, features, entertainment and high school and college sports within the Santa Clarita Valley.
By 2018, it was the only newspaper serving the city. As at August 2018 it has a circulation of around 8,000. The Signal has its own editorial board.

History

The paper was founded in 1919 as a weekly, the Newhall Signal.
In 1963, the paper was purchased by Scott Newhall, the long-time editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Tim Whyte, who had worked with Budman as the Signals general manager until 2007, returned as editor-in-chief in 2018. Whyte writes all the editorials for the daily. In 2018, along with the five-day edition, the Signal began to publish a new Sunday magazine with free distribution to 75,000 households, featuring a "bylined column" entitled "Black and Whyte" by Whyte.

Controversy

According to an October 9, 2018 article in the Columbia Journalism Review, the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the Proclaimer. According to a July 24, 2018 article in The Daily Beast, the Budmans have espoused conspiracy theories and promoted the Republican Party in the valley. Richard Budman defended himself against allegations that the couple's politics could influence the newspaper's editorial stance, stating that the newspaper ran positive stories on Katie Hill, then a Democratic congressional candidate.