On the Monday before Christmas, a printing company owned by the brother of Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano left several Long Island newspapers scrambling to get their publications out on time with a surprise announcement that the company would no longer print them.
“It was a complete shock,” said Litmor Publications owner Meg Norris, a longtime client of New Media Publishing, a printing company owned by John Mangano.
Just days before deadline, Norris was forced to use a New Jersey company to print the five Litmor newspapers after being informed by John Mangano on Dec. 20 that New Media would no longer be doing the job.
In a statement to Blank Slate Media Monday, John Mangano said the company has realigned and expanded to better serve its customers.
“The reality is the changing media landscape has decreased the need for newsprint products,” Mangano said.
John Mangano declined to comment to Blank Slate Media when asked if his employees were affected by the move which came just before the holidays.
Norris said she was both inconvenienced and saddened by news from New Media after what she called a good 15-year relationship with the company and John Mangano.
“I personally felt sorry for the guy. It was a small business that’s going under,” Norris said.
New Media and Litmor had a week-to-week payment arrangement, according to Norris.
With tens of thousands of readers, Litmor papers including the Garden City News, Mid Island Times, Bethpage Newsgram, Syosset Advance and the Jericho News Journal are now being printed by AFL Web Printing of Voorhees, New Jersey.
“Overall, it might have ended up to be a good thing,” Norris said.
Other Long Island publications affected by the New Media announcement include the Floral Park Gateway, the Bethpage Tribune and Merrick Life.
“He told us that he wouldn’t be able to print our papers anymore,” said Linda Tuscano, L&M publisher, who confirmed to Blank Slate Media that Merrick Life has switched to another printer because of New Media’s announcement.
County Executive Ed Mangano is not affiliated with New Media, according to Brian Nevin, Mangano’s communications director.
According to published newspaper reports, Mangano had been affiliated with New Media but left in 1998.
The Great Neck News, the New Hyde Park Herald Courier and the Williston Times were formerly owned by Litmor Publishing. The papers, now owned by Blank Slate Media, were printed by New Media until April of last year. The papers changed printers in April after Blank Slate’s acquisition.
