Roll Call Buys Congressional Quarterly
Roll Call Group on Tuesday announced it will purchase Congressional Quarterly Inc. from Florida-based Times Publishing Company, bringing together two of the most well-known names in Washington, D.C., journalism.The new company will be called CQ-Roll Call Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Roll Call, founded in 1955 and acquired by the Economist Group in 1992, has long focused on the people and politics of Congress and the Capitol Hill community. This focus on community led to the acquisition in 2008 of Capitol Advantage, publisher of the popular “Congress at Your Fingertips— Congressional directory and a variety of grass-roots organizing tools.CQ since 1945 has been the “publication of record— on the legislative process and has been a trailblazer in developing Web-based premium news and information services about Congress and the federal government. In addition to its flagship CQ.com legislative information platform, its publications include the magazine CQ Weekly, the CQ Today newsletter, CQPolitics.com and electronic specialty publications on health care, homeland security, the federal budget and campaign finance.“We are delighted to welcome Congressional Quarterly to Roll Call,— said Laurie Battaglia, managing director and executive vice president of Roll Call Group. “The new CQ-Roll Call Group will have the largest and most experienced newsroom covering Washington and will be the leader in providing insight and analysis about the workings of Congress. CQ and Roll Call are both highly regarded for unbiased, authoritative journalism and excellence.—Mike Mills, editorial director at Roll Call, will oversee the combined news operations at CQ and Roll Call.Both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009.