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| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | USA Today Co. |
| Editor-in-chief | Carrie Yale (Executive Editor) |
| Founded | October 12, 1998 (with heritage dating to 1852) |
| Headquarters | 1133 Westchester Avenue, Suite N110 White Plains, New York 10604 United States |
| Circulation | 42,612 Daily 71,123 Sunday (as of 2009)[1] |
| Website | lohud |
The Journal News is anewspaper inNew York State serving the New York counties ofWestchester,Rockland, andPutnam, a region known as theLower Hudson Valley. It is owned byUSA Today Co..
The Journal News was created through amerger of several daily community newspapers serving the lower Hudson, which had previously been organized under the Gannett Suburban Newspapers umbrella; the earliest ancestor of the paper dates to 1852. Although the current newspaper's name comes from theRockland Journal-News, which was based inWest Nyack, New York, and served Rockland County, theRockland Journal-News was actually the third-largest newspaper that Gannett merged to create the larger newspaper.The Reporter Dispatch fromWhite Plains, New York, and theHerald Statesman inYonkers were larger and served Westchester County.
For years prior to the October 12, 1998, merger that createdThe Journal News, ten of the newspapers shared some content and printing presses, although theRockland Journal-News, formerlyThe Journal-News, theRockland County Evening Journal and theNyack Evening Journal, operated its own full composing room and printing press until fall 1996. TheRockland Journal-News had an independent staff of editors, writers, photographers, an artist, etc., from the time of the 1964 purchase by Gannett until the 1996-1998 consolidation period. In that, there was a fierce independence that led to exceptional reporting and photography on both sides of the Hudson River.
Gannett acquired nine of the newspapers in 1964 from the Macy family and addedThe Star inPeekskill, New York, in 1985.[2] These newspapers previously appeared on newsstands in the evening. In 1989, Gannett created a morning edition for Putnam County, Westchester, and the Bronx calledThe Sunrise,[3] but it folded after a year. Today,The Journal News appears in the morning like other New York dailies.
Newspapers that merged in 1998 to createThe Journal News:
The Journal News successfully launchedPutnam Magazine andRockland Magazine in 2005, andScarsdale Magazine (originallyInTown Scarsdale) in early 2006.
In 2005,The Journal News expanded its Custom Publishing division and began publishing a series of suburban lifestyle magazines about the Lower Hudson Valley region. The first of these publications wasInTown, which covered the Westchester market with hyper-local editions targeting different regions of the county:[citation needed] In late 2006, these numerous editions were all consolidated into one county-wide publication,InTown Westchester, which publishes 10 times a year.[citation needed]
The Journal News also publishes five ultra-local community weeklyExpress newspapers serving Northern Westchester, Putnam, Yorktown/Cortlandt, Sound Shore, and White Plains as well as theReview Press, a weekly newspaper covering Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe.
The Journal News' website, LoHud.com, features daily news updates, more than 40 blogs, as well asVarsity Insider, an online source for varsity sports, featuring rosters, schedules, and statistic for high school teams throughout the LowerHudson Valley region.[4]
On March 7, 2010The Journal News closed its press and outsourced printing.[citation needed]
On August 7, 2013, the newspaper laid off 26 staff members, including 17 journalists, and its editor, Caryn McBride.[5][6]
In February 2022,The Journal News ran an advertisement for an upcoming article on theEast Ramapo Central School District, whichAgudath Israel of America condemned as reproducing classic antisemitic tropes similar to those found in theProtocols of the Elders of Zion.[7][8] TheAnti-Defamation League's New York / New Jersey branch also condemned the advertisement, stating that it "draws from the worst of millennia-old antisemitic tropes about Jews".[9][10]
In 2022, Mary Dolan, who oversaw five years of dwindling circulation and online readership, was sacked as news director and replaced with former photo editor Carrie Yale as Gannett once again cut editorial staff.
On December 22, 2012,The Journal News published an interactive map showing the names, addresses and home addresses of allpistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland Counties.[11] Both Westchester and Rockland residents and major, national news organizations sharply criticized the newspaper.[12][13] Despite this, the newspaper's editor and vice president, CynDee Royle, said that they had sought to publish even more detailed information, to which the counties had deniedThe Journal News access,[13] and that the newspaper sued neighboring Putnam County for refusing to provide similar information.[14]
The following day, blogger Christopher Fountain published the names and addresses of the staff ofThe Journal News.[15][16] The newspaper and some of its staff responded by hiring armed security guards, a move that critics called hypocritical considering the paper's anti-gun stance.[17][18][19]
Rockland County law enforcement officers condemnedThe Journal News' map, saying that it endangered lives, including those ofcorrections officers.[20] Several newspapers also published reports of victims ofdomestic violence,rape, or other violent crimes who reported that their attackers now had possession of their home addresses.[21]
As a result of the publication, protests were held at theState Capitol inAlbany,[22] and theNew York State Legislature passed a law allowing gun owners in the state to opt out of having their identifying information be available to the public.[14] This catalyzed other states across the country to pass similar privacy measures.[22]
Newsday reported that police were investigating ifThe Journal News pistol permit map played a role in aburglary in White Plains, New York. According to police, at least two burglars broke into a home on January 12, 2013 and unsuccessfully attempted to open agun safe containing legally owned weapons. Police were investigating what role, if any, the Journal News database played in the burglars' decision to target the home.[11][needs update]
On January 19, 2013, the newspaper removed the interactive map,[23] although the information it contained was subsequently leaked on the Internet.[24]
Irving Brecher is now a sportswriter forThe Yonkers Herald[25] andMichael Gallagher is an investigative reporter.
Magazines published byThe Journal News:
