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 The July 27, 2005 front page ofThe Courier-Journal | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Gannett |
| President | Eddie Tyner |
| Editor | Mary Irby-Jones |
| Founded | November 8, 1868; 156 years ago (1868-11-08) |
| Political alignment | Whig (formerly) |
| Headquarters | 525 West Broadway Louisville,Kentucky 40201  United States |
| Circulation |
|
| Website | courier-journal.com |
TheCourier Journal, also known as theLouisville Courier Journal (and informallyThe C-J orThe Courier), and calledThe Courier-Journal between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a dailynewspaper published inLouisville, Kentucky and owned byGannett, which bills it as "Part of theUSA Today Network".
It is the newspaper with the highest number of recorded circulation inKentucky.[3][4] According to the1999Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th-largest daily paper in the United States.[needs update]
The Courier-Journal was created from the merger of several newspapers introduced inKentucky in the 19th century.
A pioneer paper calledThe Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature was founded in 1826 inLouisville when the city was an early settlement of less than 7,000 individuals. In 1830 a new newspaper,The Louisville Daily Journal, began distribution in the city and, in 1832, theJournal absorbedThe Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature. The LouisvilleJournal was an organ of theWhig Party and was founded and edited byGeorge D. Prentice, a New Englander who initially came to Kentucky to write a biography ofHenry Clay.[5] Prentice edited theJournal for more than 40 years.
In 1844, another newspaper, theLouisville Morning Courier, was founded in Louisville byWalter Newman Haldeman.The Louisville Daily Journal and theLouisville Morning Courier were leading newspapers inLouisville and were politically opposed throughout theCivil War;The Journal wasagainst slavery while theCourier waspro-Confederacy. TheCourier was suppressed by the Union and had to move toNashville, but it returned to Louisville after the war.[citation needed]
Upon the announcement of theEmancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the Confederate states, theJournal opposed the Proclamation as an unconstitutional use of presidential power, and predicted: "Kentucky cannot and will not acquiesce in this measure. Never!"[6][7]In 1868, an ailing Prentice persuaded the 28-year-oldHenry Watterson to come edit for theJournal. During secret negotiations in 1868,The Journal and theCourier merged, and the first edition ofThe Courier-Journal was delivered to Louisvillians on Sunday morning, November 8, 1868.[citation needed]
Henry Watterson, the son of a Tennessee congressman, had written forHarper's Magazine andTheNew York Times before enlisting in theConfederate Army. He became nationally known for his work asThe Courier-Journal emerged as the region's leading paper. He supported theDemocratic Party and pushed for the industrialization of Kentucky and the South in general, notably through urging theSouthern Exposition be held in Louisville. He attracted controversy for attempting to prove thatChristopher Marlowe had actually written the works ofShakespeare. He won aPulitzer Prize in 1917 for editorials demanding the United States enterWorld War I.[8]
The Courier-Journal founded a companion afternoon edition of the paper,The Louisville Times, in May 1884. In 1896, Watterson and Haldeman opposed Democratic presidential candidateWilliam Jennings Bryan over his support offree silver coinage. This unpopular decision upset readers and advertisers, many of whom pulled their support forThe Courier-Journal. Kentucky voted for theRepublican candidate in 1896, the first time in state history, and local political leaders blamed the Courier. Only the popularity ofThe Louisville Times, which had no strong editorial reputation, saved the newspaper company from bankruptcy. TheCourier supported Bryan in future elections.[8]
Haldeman had owned the papers until his death in 1902, and by 1917 they were owned by his son,William, and Henry Watterson.[citation needed]
On August 8, 1918,Robert Worth Bingham purchased two-thirds interest in the newspapers and acquired the remaining stock in 1920. The liberal Bingham clashed with longtime editor Watterson, who remained on board, but was in the twilight of his career. Watterson's editorials opposing theLeague of Nations appeared alongside Bingham's favoring it, and Watterson finally retired on April 2, 1919.[8]
I have always regarded the newspapers owned by me as a public trust and have endeavored so to conduct them as to render the greatest public service.
As publisher, Bingham set the tone for his editorial pages, and pushed for improved public education, support of African Americans and the poor ofAppalachia. In 1933, the newspapers passed to his son,Barry Bingham, Sr. Barry Bingham would continue in his father's footsteps, guiding the editorial page and modernizing the paper by setting up several news bureaus throughout the state, expanding the news staff. During Barry Bingham, Sr.'s tenure, the paper was considered Kentucky's "Newspaper of Record" and consistently ranked among the 10 best in the nation.[8]
In 1971,Barry Bingham, Jr. succeeded his father as the newspapers' editor and publisher.
The Binghams were well-liked owners popularly credited with being more concerned with publishing quality journalism than making heavy profits. They also owned the leading local radio and television stations –WHAS-TV,WHAS-AM, andWAMZ-FM—andStandard Gravure, arotogravure printing company that printedThe Courier-Journal's SundayMagazine as well as similar magazines for other newspapers.[citation needed]
Barry Bingham Jr. sought to free the papers from conflicts of interests, and throughThe Louisville Times, experimented with new ideas such as signed editorials. Bingham Jr. also parted with tradition by endorsing several Republican candidates for office.[8]
In 1974,Carol Sutton became managing editor ofThe Courier-Journal, the first woman appointed to such a post at a major US daily newspaper. Under the leadership of C. Thomas Hardin, director of photography, the combined photography staff ofThe Courier-Journal and Louisville Times was awarded the 1976Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for its coverage of school desegregation in Louisville.[citation needed]
Barry Bingham, Jr. served as editor and publisher until he resigned in 1986, shortly after his father announced that the newspaper company was for sale, in large measure because of disagreements between Bingham Jr. and his sisterSallie.[citation needed]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2017) |
On January 8, 1986, Barry Bingham Sr. announced his intent to sell the family owned media properties including the Courier-Journal.[9] In July 1986,Gannett Company, Inc. purchased the newspaper company for $300 million, outbiddingThe Washington Post and theTribune company.[10] Gannett appointed George N. Gill President and Publisher who had been with the newspaper and the Binghams for over two decades. Gill worked his way up from copy editor to chief executive officer of the Bingham Companies.[11] In 1993, Gill retired and Edward E. Manassah became president and Publisher.[12]
February 1987 saw the last publication ofThe Louisville Times, which like most afternoon papers had experienced declining readership; the news operations of the two papers had previously been consolidated under Gannett. The surviving Courier featured a strong news content increase by 29%.[13]
In 1989, the paper's news staff won the Pulitzer Prize for general local reporting for what the Pulitzer board called "exemplary initial coverage" of acollision that was the nation's worst drunk-driving crash and school-bus accident. In 2005, cartoonistNick Anderson won the paper's 10th Pulitzer, but when he left for theHouston Chronicle, the paper did not replace him, instead relying largely on submissions from local cartoonists. One, lawyer Marc Murphy, has become a near-regular and gained respect for his work.[citation needed]
The newspaper resumed polling on elections, and began video streaming its editorial-board conferences with major candidates, under Publisher Arnold "Arnie" Garson, who came from the Argus Leader, Gannett's paper in Sioux Falls, S.D., in late 2008. Garson is an outspoken promoter of the future of printed newspapers in the digital age. Under him, the paper began keeping occasional major stories or sports columns off its website and promoting them as print exclusives. Most of these have run on Sundays; in July 2009, Garson announced that the paper's Sunday home-delivery circulation was up 0.5 percent over the previous year.[citation needed]
| Year | Category | Recipient | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Editorial Writing | Henry Watterson | For his twoWorld War I editorials "War Has Its Compensations" (April 10, 1918), and "Vae Victis!" (May 17, 1918) |
| 1926 | Reporting | William Burke "Skeets" Miller | For his coverage of the attempts to rescueFloyd Collins trapped in Sand Cave, |
| 1956 | Editorial Cartooning | Robert York | For his cartoon "Achilles" showing a bulging figure of American prosperity tapering to a weak heel labeled "farm prices". Appeared inThe Louisville Times, (September 16, 1955) |
| 1967 | Public Service | The Courier-Journal | For its "meritorious public service" during 1966 in its fight against the ravages ofKentuckystrip mining |
| 1969 | Local General or Spot News Reporting | John Fetterman | For coverage of the funeral for aVietnam casualty fromKentucky, "Pfc. Gibson Comes Home" (July 28, 1968) |
| 1976 | Feature Photography | The Courier-Journal andThe Louisville Times | For photo coverage of court-orderedbusing inJefferson County in 1975 |
| 1978 | Local General or Spot News Reporting | Rich Whitt | For his coverage and three months of investigation of the disastrous May 28, 1977, fire at theBeverly Hills Supper Club,Southgate, Kentucky inCampbell County |
| 1980 | International Reporting | Joel Brinkley and Jay Mather | For international reporting in a series of articles, "Living the Cambodian Nightmare", their vivid account of refugees in Southeast Asia (December 1979) |
| 1989 | General Reporting | The Courier-Journal | For its exemplary initial coverage of abus crash inCarroll County, Kentucky that claimed 27 lives and its subsequent thorough and effective examination of the causes and implications of the tragedy (1988) |
| 2005 | Editorial Cartoon | Nick Anderson | For his portfolio of twenty editorial cartoons[14] |
| 2020 | Breaking News Reporting | The Courier-Journal | For coverage of outgoing Kentucky Gov.Matt Bevin's hundreds of pardons.[15][16] |
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