The Examiner
The Examiner is a privately held local newspaper and WordPress-based digital news platform serving Independence, Blue Springs, and Grain Valley in Eastern Jackson County, Missouri, with revenue from digital subscriptions and local advertising.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersIndependence, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What The Examiner does
The Examiner is a privately held local newspaper and digital news platform serving the Eastern Jackson County area of Missouri — principally Independence, Blue Springs, and Grain Valley. Operating from offices in Independence, the publication delivers community news, sports (notably high school coverage), entertainment, lifestyle, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, and legal notices, with a clear focus on hyperlocal coverage of municipal government, public safety, schools, and community events. The Examiner is owned by CherryRoad Media, a media company founded in 2020 by Jeremy Gulban (CEO of CherryRoad Technologies) that has pursued a roll-up strategy of acquiring and launching community newspapers.
The technical foundation is a WordPress-based digital publishing platform running at examiner.net, extended through dedicated add-on modules: obituaries are delivered via a Legacy.com integration, while classifieds and legal notices are operated through eTYPE Services. The site maintains WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance and offers digital issues, games/puzzles, and horoscopes as engagement extensions. There is no mobile app in either major app store.
Revenue is generated through two streams: digital subscription (with metered access leading to a paywall and annual billing referenced on the site) and advertising (display and classifieds, including legal notices). Distribution is primarily digital via the website plus physical newsstand and carrier delivery to subscribers. Geographic scope is deliberately narrow — a single regional market — and customer concentration sits with Eastern Jackson County residents and local advertisers, with no enterprise or national B2B contract exposure.
The Examiner firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Examiner
- Legal name
- The Examiner
- Website
- https://examiner.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- The Examiner is a privately held local newspaper and WordPress-based digital news platform serving Independence, Blue Springs, and Grain Valley in Eastern Jackson County, Missouri, with revenue from digital subscriptions and local advertising.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Examiner industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Local Newspaper
- NAICS
- Newspaper Publishers (513110)
- SIC
- Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)
Keywords
Where The Examiner is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Independence
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Examiner business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Subscription Revenue: Digital subscriptions for accessing online content, with free content available up to certain limits before paywall requires subscription signup.
- Advertising: Display advertising and classified advertisements placed throughout the newspaper and website.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Digital Subscription |
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels2 records
The Examiner product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Examiner is a local newspaper and digital news platform serving Eastern Jackson County, Missouri (Independence, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, and surrounding communities). It delivers hyperlocal news, high school and community sports, entertainment, lifestyle, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, legal notices, and digital editions through a WordPress-based website (examiner.net) and print newspaper. The publication is owned and operated by CherryRoad Media and monetizes through digital subscriptions, print subscriptions, display advertising, classified advertising, and paid obituary and legal notice placements.
Product overview
The Examiner is a local digital news platform and newspaper operated by CherryRoad Media, serving the Eastern Jackson County community in Missouri. The offering is a single unified platform combining news delivery with supplementary services. Core content includes news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and opinion sections. The platform extends through add-on modules including obituaries (via Legacy.com), classifieds, legal notices (via eTYPE Services), digital issues, and games/entertainment features.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- The Examiner (Local Newspaper and Digital News Subscription) Local newspaper and digital subscription product delivering hyperlocal news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and opinion content to Eastern Jackson County, Missouri residents through examiner.net and a print edition.
- Obituary Listings and Submission Service
Companies that use The Examiner
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The Examiner technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
The Examiner partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- CherryRoad MediacoreThe Examiner is owned and operated by CherryRoad Media, a media company founded by Jeremy Gulban in 1983. CherryRoad Media entered the media world in 2020 through acquisitions and newspaper start-up projects, growing into a reputable local news institution.
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
The Examiner competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Ogden Newspapers: Privately held family-owned chain of daily and weekly community newspapers. Closely mirrors CherryRoad Media's privately held, multi-title local-newspaper strategy and shares the same revenue mix of subscriptions, display, classifieds, and legal notices.
- Boone Newspapers: Family-owned chain of community and small-market newspapers across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. Operates with a similar local-newspaper roll-up strategy to CherryRoad Media and is a closer peer in scale and ownership structure than the public chains.
- Tribune Publishing: Operator of regional dailies (Chicago Tribune, NY Daily News, Baltimore Sun) under Alden Global Capital. Represents a chain-level comp for monetization, digital paywall strategy, and cost structure for regional newspapers.
- Lee Enterprises: Major U.S. local news chain operating dailies such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Comparable subscription and advertising model, shared services, and similar community-newspaper economics across a national portfolio.
- Gannett Co. (USA Today Network): Largest U.S. local newspaper operator (hundreds of daily and weekly titles including the Springfield News-Leader). Competes for the same advertisers and represents the dominant incumbent against which CherryRoad Media's local properties are measured.
Direct peers
- The Kansas City Star: Regional daily newspaper serving the Kansas City metropolitan area including Eastern Jackson County. Direct geographic and audience overlap with The Examiner, with a much larger metro footprint and competing for the same SMB and classified advertisers.
- Springfield News-Leader: Gannett-owned regional daily in Springfield, Missouri covering local government, sports, and community news. Operates with a very similar subscription + advertising + classifieds model targeting a single Missouri metro market.
- Columbia Daily Tribune: Mid-size Missouri daily covering Columbia/Boone County. Closely comparable in scale, model, and content mix (local news, sports, opinion, obituaries) to The Examiner and operated by a similar small-chain regional publisher.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Lee Enterprises-owned daily covering the St. Louis metro. Comparable Missouri regional newspaper with paywalled digital subscriptions, classifieds, and obituaries (Legacy.com partnership) — a clear structural template for The Examiner's business model.
Emerging players
- Patch.com: Digital-first hyperlocal news network covering thousands of U.S. communities, including several in the Kansas City metro. Direct substitute for community news consumption and a key competitive threat to The Examiner's digital subscription base.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Examiner social profiles
Digital presenceThe Examiner compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
The Examiner financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Examiner leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
The Examiner funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Examiner M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Examiner
What does The Examiner do?
The Examiner is a local newspaper and digital news platform serving Eastern Jackson County, Missouri (Independence, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, and surrounding communities). It delivers hyperlocal news, high school and community sports, entertainment, lifestyle, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, legal notices, and digital editions through a WordPress-based website (examiner.net) and print newspaper. The publication is owned and operated by CherryRoad Media and monetizes through digital subscriptions, print subscriptions, display advertising, classified advertising, and paid obituary and legal notice placements.
Is The Examiner a public or private company?
The Examiner is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was The Examiner founded?
The Examiner was founded in 2020. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is The Examiner based?
The Examiner is headquartered in Independence, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Examiner make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription Revenue is the primary driver. The others are advertising.
Who are The Examiner's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Ogden Newspapers, Boone Newspapers, Tribune Publishing, Lee Enterprises and Gannett Co. (USA Today Network). Direct peers are The Kansas City Star, Springfield News-Leader, Columbia Daily Tribune and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Patch.com is listed as an emerging player.
Does The Examiner have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Examiner.
What industry is The Examiner in?
The Examiner's product category is Local Newspaper. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAB, Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital). Its NAICS code is 513110 and its SIC code is 2711.