‘I saw a lot of opportunity.’ Miami Times owner Garth Reeves III buys Biscayne Times.
The deal happened in a matter of hours.
Garth Reeves III, the owner and publisher of The Miami Times, had been chatting with his family’s lawyer, who happened to mention Biscayne Times was up for sale. A few phone calls later and boom — South Florida’s oldest Black-owned newspaper had just expanded.
“It was pretty seamless,” Reeves recalled over the phone.
The Miami Times announced Wednesday its acquisition of the monthly magazine that bills itself as servicing “the Biscayne Corridor from downtown Miami to Aventura, including all the island communities.” A longtime reader of Biscayne Times, Reeves says the marriage seeks to increase both outlets’ audience without sacrificing either publication’s unique style.
“We shared that commitment to reporting local news and really sticking to our niche,” Reeves, who has led The Miami Times since 2017, added. “I saw a lot of opportunity for synergy.”
Reeves maintained that not much will change at Biscayne Times. Instead, the publication’s best aspects — its local news coverage and photos — will be highlighted, he says.
“All of the things that readers have come to love about the Biscayne Times will still be there,” Reeves said.
There will, however, be one obvious difference in Biscayne Times: its website. Likening the previous version to something out of the ‘90s, Reeves said taking it down was one of the first moves that he made after purchasing the publication. An updated version will be launched in the first week of October.
“Having a richer digital experience from the Biscayne Times is really going to benefit those residents along the Biscayne corridor,” Reeves explained.
Emily Cardenas, The Miami Times’ current executive editor, will helm the combined editorial and production staffs. This will allow for the sharing of content between publications, which Reeves described as “essential to the survival of both papers.”
“There is some overlap in our distribution areas and there’s going to be news that will be relevant to both communities,” Reeves said.
This latest sale will be Biscayne Times’ third change in leadership since Skip Van Cel established the publication in 2003. Jim Mullin, the founding editor of The Miami New Times, purchased the magazine in 2007, pushing it to new heights while reaching a monthly distribution of about 30,000. When Mullin recently made the decision to retire, he was mainly concerned about its new owners sharing similar journalistic values — until Reeves expressed interest.
“I worried about finding just the right person to maintain the journalistic integrity we had established, but now I can leave knowing Biscayne Times will be in capable hands,” Mullin told The Miami Times.
Voicing the concerns of South Florida’s Black community led Henry E.S. Reeves, Garth Reeves III’s great-grandfather, to start The Miami Times in 1923. Ownership has since remained in the Reeves family — first with publisher emeritus Garth Sr., who passed away in November 2019; then with his daughter Rachel, who died in September 2019, and finally her son Garth III. Back-to-back recognition as the best Black newspaper, courtesy of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, in 2018 and 2019 soon followed.
Don’t expect The Miami Times’ mission to change with the purchase of Biscayne Times, though. Reeves’ stance was clear:
“We continue to serve our audience, our neighborhoods, our readers [by] providing them with local coverage of news from the Black perspective.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 7:11 PM with the headline "‘I saw a lot of opportunity.’ Miami Times owner Garth Reeves III buys Biscayne Times.."
