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The article presents information on how the change of ownership of the Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based newspaper "Oshkosh Northwestern," affected the quality of the paper. The "Oshkosh Northwestern," was one of the most successful newspapers in Wisconsin during the 1900s. In the fall of 1997 the two families that owned it brought in a team of consultants to upgrade the publication. The improvements set the stage for the paper to be sold three times in less than three years. The paper was first sold by its family owners to OgdenNewspapers Inc. on May 15, 1998. A little more than a month later in early July 1998 it was acquired by Thomson Corp. On July 21, 2000 the Northwestern became property of Gannett Co. Inc. The newspaper became demonstrably worse in the five years after its family owners sold it to a series of chains. With fewer reporters writing fewer local stories and generating less copy for the local section, circulation fell more than 4 percent from the time Gannett acquired the paper in 2000 through the end of 2002.