It is led by Timothy E. Stautberg—the former head of Scripps' newspaper business, joined by previous Journal CEO Stephen J. Smith as a chairman.

The Milwaukee Sentinel, begun in 1837 as a weekly published by city co-founder Solomon Juneau, passed through the hands of several owners before being sold to the Hearst Corporation in 1924.

Although Hearst claimed that the paper had lost money for years, The Journal Company, concerned about the loss of an important voice (and facing questions about its own dominance of the Milwaukee media market), agreed to buy the Sentinel name, subscription lists, and goodwill associated with the name.

On February 26, 2007, Journal Communications sold the regional telecommunications provider to privately held Q-Comm Corp of Delaware.

Upon closing the transaction, Q-Comm terminated Jim Ditter, who had been president of Norlight since 1995, and chief financial officer Phillip Garvey.

[9] The merger and spin-off were finalized on April 1, 2015; Stephen J. Smith was replaced as CEO by Timothy E. Stautberg—the former head of Scripps' newspaper operation.

Scripps television station WEWS-TV recorded and aired the entire act against his wishes and without compensating him, as was required by Ohio law.

[14] The Commercial Appeal posted a controversial database listing Tennessee residents with permits to carry handguns in 2008.

Scripps owns and operates the Ventura County Star, which has faced many complaints involving its circulation practices rather than its editorial content.

In May 2013, Scripps News Service discovered and published a security breach on the websites of Oklahoma-based TerraCom Inc. and an affiliate, YourTel America Inc. in which the personal information of tens of thousands of low-income Americans was publicly exposed.