Australian media titan Rupert Murdoch’s company News Corp., which specializes in tabloid-style journalism and produces the New York Post, officially announced the purchase of the Bronx Times Reporter and the Bronx Times papers last week.

Combined with chains of Queens and Brooklyn papers, the Bronx Times’ weekly circulation of 40,000 will boost News Corp.’s total community newspaper circulation in New York close to 300,000, according to a company statement.

"This acquisition, on the heels of last year’s purchase of the Times-Ledger (Queens) and Courier Life (Brooklyn) newspapers, gives us increased and comprehensive penetration," News Corp. Senior Vice President Les Goodstein said in a statement.

"This is an incredible development for the Bronx and for our readers that will allow us to enhance the quality of the Bronx Times," said Times publisher John Collazzi in a statement. Collazzi founded the Times with Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benedetto in 1981 and co-publishes the paper with David Keisman.

Collazzi has a second job as Benedetto’s chief of staff. Keisman also has ties to the Bronx Democratic Party, having served on Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion’s transition committee when he was first elected. The MirRam political consulting group, run by Bronx Democratic insiders Roberto Ramirez and Luis Miranda, is a partner with Keisman on the Manhattan Times, another free community newspaper in Washington Heights.

In its own announcement, the Bronx Times said Collazzi will remain as publisher under the new ownership. The statement underscored Collazzi’s stance that the paper’s staff will stay the same and that there are "no plans to alter its content or mission."