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| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | USA Today Co. |
| Publisher | Gary Miles |
| Editor | Gary Miles |
| Managing editor | Kevin J. Hardy |
| Founded | 1873; 153 years ago (1873) |
| Headquarters | 6001 Cass Ave. Detroit,Michigan 48202 |
| Circulation | 51,595 (as of 2022)[1] |
| ISSN | 1055-2715 |
| OCLC number | 9611687 |
| Website | detroitnews |
The Detroit News is one of the two majordaily newspapers in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned byUSA Today Co., which also owns the main historical rival theDetroit Free Press. Both newspapersoperated under ajoint operating agreement from 1989 until 2025.[2]
The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rivalDetroit Free Press's building.The News absorbed theDetroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, theDetroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960, it bought and closed the falteringDetroit Times. However, it retained theTimes building, which it used as a printing plant until 1975, when a new facility opened inSterling Heights. TheTimes building was demolished in 1978.[3] The street in downtown Detroit where the Times building once stood is still called "Times Square." The Evening News Association, owner ofThe News, merged withGannett in 1985.
At the time of its acquisition ofThe News, Gannett also had other Detroit interests. These included its outdoor advertising company, who operated many billboards across Detroit and the surrounding area, including advertising displays onDetroit Department of Transportation andSoutheastern Michigan Transportation Authority buses, with its only competitor, primarily alongMetro Detroit's freeway network, being 3M National Advertising (nowLamar Advertising). Gannet's outdoor advertising company in Detroit ultimately becameOutfront Media through a series of mergers.
The News claims to have been the first newspaper in the world to operate aradio station, station 8MK, which began broadcasting August 20, 1920. 8MK is now Audacy-ownedWWJ. In 1947, it established Michigan's first television station, WWJ-TV, nowWDIV-TV; it has been a primary NBC affiliate since sign-on, owing to WWJ-AM's ties with the NBC Radio Network.
In 1989, the paper entered into a one hundred yearjoint operating agreement with the rivalFree Press, combining business operations while keeping separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called theDetroit Media Partnership (DMP). TheFree Press moved intoThe News building in 1998 and until May 7, 2006, the two published a single joint weekend edition. Today,The News is published Monday–Saturday, and has an editorial page in the SundayFree Press.
The Detroit News has an online version, including a separate website for connections from European Union countries that does not track personal information.
The Detroit News has won threePulitzer Prizes.
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The Detroit News was founded byJames E. Scripps, who, in turn, was the older half-brother and one-time partner ofEdward W. Scripps. The paper's eventual success, however, is largely credited to Scripps' son-in-law,George Gough Booth, who came aboard at the request of his wife's father. Booth went on to construct Michigan's largest newspaper empire, founding the independentBooth Newspapers chain (now owned byS.I. Newhouse'sAdvance Publications) with his two brothers.
The Detroit News building was erected in 1917. It was designed byarchitectAlbert Kahn, who included a faux-stone concrete building with large street-level arches to admit light. The arches along the east and south side of the building were bricked-in for protection after the12th Street Riot in 1967. The bricked-in arches on the east and south ends of the building were reopened during renovations required when theFree Press relocated its offices there 20 years later.
In 1931,The Detroit News made history when it bought a three-placePitcairn PCA-2 auto-gyro as a camera aircraft that could take off and land in restricted places and semi-hover for photos. It was the ancestor of today's well-known news helicopter.[5] In 1935 a singleLockheed Model 9 Orion was purchased and modified by Lockheed as a news camera plane forThe Detroit News. To work in that role, a pod was built into the frontal leading edge of the right-wing about eight feet (2.4 m) out from the fuselage. This pod had a glass dome on the front and a mounted camera. To aim the camera the pilot was provided with a primitive grid-like gun sight on his windshield.[6]
Deb Price's debut column inThe Detroit News in 1992 was the first syndicated national column in American mainstream media that spoke about gay life.[7][8]
On July 13, 1995,Newspaper Guild employees of theDetroit Free Press andThe News along with pressmen, printers andTeamsters, working for the "Detroit Newspapers" distribution arm,went on strike. Approximately half of the staffers crossed the picket line before the unions ended their strike in February 1997. The strike was resolved in court three years later, with the journalists' union losing its unfair labor practices case on appeal. Still, the weakened unions remain active at the paper, representing a majority of the employees under their jurisdiction.
On August 3, 2005, Gannett announced that it would sellThe News toMediaNews Group and purchase theFree Press from theKnight Ridder company. With this move, Gannett became the managing partner in the papers' joint operating agreement. On May 7, 2006, the combined SundayDetroit News and Free Press was replaced by a stand-alone SundayFree Press. On December 16, 2008, Detroit Media Partnership announced a plan to limit weekday home delivery for both dailies to Thursday and Friday only. On other weekdays the paper sold at newsstands would be reduced to about 32 pages, and redesigned. This arrangement went into effect on March 30, 2009.[9]
In February 2014, the DMP announced its offices along with those ofThe News and theFree Press would move from the West Lafayette building to six floors in both the old and new sections of the formerFederal Reserve building at 160 West Fort Street. The partnership expected to place signs on the exterior similar to those on the former offices.[10][11] The move took place October 24–27, 2014.[12]
In December 2024,The Detroit News moved to the historic Albert Kahn-designed former Cadillac showroom at 6001 Cass Avenue, which was built in 1920.[13]
In January 2025, Gannett (now USA Today Co.) announced that the Sterling Heights plant that printedThe News andFree Press would close after the production run August 3, and printing would move to other Gannett facilities.[14]
In June 2025, it was subsequently announced that the Detroit Media Partnership would be dissolved, with MediaNews Group and Gannett respectively operating theDetroit News andFree Press independently effective December 28, 2025.The Detroit News announced that it would reinstate a Sunday edition beginning January 18, 2026, and the paper also began to collaborate with its sister publicationsThe Macomb Daily andThe Oakland Press.[15][16][17] The Sunday edition was later delayed indefinitely.[18] On January 26, 2026, USA Today Co. announced that it would acquireThe Detroit News, putting both papers under common ownership.[18] The sale was completed on January 31.[19]
The News describes itself as "aconservative newspaper since its founding in 1873."[20] In 1958,The News described itself as consistently conservative on economic issues and consistently liberal on civil liberties issues.[citation needed] It has never endorsed aDemocratic candidate forpresident, and has only failed to endorse aRepublican presidential candidate six times: twice during theFranklin D. Roosevelt era; in 2004, when it did not endorseGeorge W. Bush for re-election; in 2016, when it endorsed Libertarian Party nomineeGary Johnson rather than Republican nomineeDonald Trump,[21][22] and in 2020 and 2024, when it continued to withhold its endorsement from Trump and did not endorse a candidate.[23][20]
The staff ofThe Detroit News includes editorial page columnists Nolan Finley, Kaitlyn Buss and Bankole Thompson; food critic Melody Baetens; sports columnistsBob Wojnowski and John Niyo; sportswriters Angelique Chengelis, Tony Paul, Chris McCosky, Rod Beard, Nolan Bianchi, Ted Kulfan and James Hawkins; auto critic Henry Payne and business columnistDaniel Howes. Previous staff members include sportswriter David Goricki.[24]
The staff also includes metro reporter Robert Snell, who was named Michigan Journalist of the Year in 2014, 2018, and 2020 by the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.[25]
