Camden-based Village NetMedia Inc. plans to buy six weekly newspapers and a printing operation in the Midcoast from Courier Publications, company officials announced today.

NetMedia will buy the tri-weekly Courier Gazette (Rockland) and the weekly Camden Herald, Republican Journal (Belfast), Waldo Independent (Belfast), Bar Harbor Times and Capital Weekly (Augusta). The company also will purchase Courier Publications’ printing operation in Rockland.

“The media landscape is changing in Maine and across the country, and I’m proud to say that we are creating an innovative approach that works,” said Richard M. Anderson, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Rockland-based Village NetMedia and VillageSoup Inc..

“VillageSoup integrates a highly interactive Web site with traditional print, and is the future for small-town media," Anderson said in a press release. "This purchase allows us to expand our reach and breathe new life and energy into these papers, all for the benefit of readers and advertisers.”

The sale will be complete by June 30.

As part of the purchase, the Waldo Independent, a Courier Publications paper, and Waldo County Citizen, a NetMedia publication, will be folded into The Republican Journal. The Knox County Times will be folded into the Camden Herald and Courier Gazette, officials said.

Between the two companies, there are about 129 people employed at the eight publications. About 26 positions will be lost across the six Courier Publications operations, Anderson said in a press release.

NetMedia will continue to publish the Knox and Waldo County VillageSoup Web sites.