 The February 28, 2012, front page of The Press Democrat | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | MediaNews Group |
| Editor | John D'Anna, Interim Executive Editor |
| Founded | 1897 (as theSonoma Democrat) |
| Headquarters | 416 B Street Santa Rosa,California 95401 38°26′30″N122°42′54″W / 38.441743°N 122.714944°W /38.441743; -122.714944 |
| Circulation | 20,000 Daily 25,000 Sunday 18,000 Digital Only (as of 2023)[1] |
| Sister newspapers | Sonoma Index-Tribune,Argus-Courier |
| ISSN | 0747-220X |
| Website | pressdemocrat |
| Free online archives | cdnc.ucr.edu (1875-1928) |
The Press Democrat is a dailynewspaper published inSanta Rosa, California.
On January 2, 1896, the first edition ofTheEvening Press was published in Santa Rosa, California.[2][3] The newspaper was founded byErnest L. Finley, Grant Richards, andCharles O. Dunbar, who on October 7, 1897, merged theirEvening Press withThomas Thompson'sSonoma Democrat (originally created as a voice for theDemocratic Party).[4][5][6] The paper bought theSanta Rosa Republican in 1927.[7]
Finley eventually acquired sole ownership and published the paper until his death in 1942. The paper was then passed on to his widow Ruth Woolsey Finley, daughter Ruth Finley Person and son-in-law Evert B. Person.[8] In 1948, theRepublican was consolidated into thePress Democrat.[6]
After Mrs. Finley died in 1985,[9] Evert Person sold the paper toThe New York Times Company. The sale includedThe Healdsburg Tribune. At that time thePress Democrat had a daily circulation of 73,000.[10] In 2001, company bought theArgus-Courier,[11] and in 2012 sold its regional papers toHalifax Media.[12]
Later that year, Sonoma Media, a local investment group formed to buy theSonoma Index-Tribune, purchased theArgus-Courier andThe Press Democrat from Halifax.[13] The ownership group included formercongressmanDouglas H. Bosco,[14] Jean Schulz, the widow ofPeanuts comic strip creatorCharles M. Schulz, and Norma Betz Person, widow ofThe Press Democrat's former publisher Evert Person.[15]
In 2019, Sonoma Media Investments acquired theSonoma County Gazette ofForestville, a monthly newspaper.[16] In 2025, the business sold its papers toMediaNews Group.[17]
The most popular feature inThe Press Democrat for many years wasGaye LeBaron's community column, according to a readership survey. LeBaron produced more than 8,000 columns between 1961 and her semi-retirement in 2001, writing onhuman interest, cultural events, ethnic history and local politics.[18][19]
The Press Democrat's staff was the winner of the2018Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for "[f]or lucid and tenacious coverage of historic wildfires that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County."[20] Former staff photographerAnnie Wells also won the1997Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography "for her dramatic photograph of a local firefighter rescuing a teenager from raging floodwaters."[21]
The newspaper was also the 2004 recipient of theGeorge Polk Award for Regional Reporting,[22] given annually byLong Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting.