.svg) | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Digital First Media |
| Founder(s) | W.D. Morton H.N Short |
| Publisher | Ron Hasse |
| Editor | Frank Pine |
| Founded | 1882 (as theThe Pomona Times) |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 3200 Guasti Road, Suite 100Ontario, California 91761 |
| Circulation | 38,286 Daily 52,308 Sunday (as of September 2014) |
| Website | dailybulletin |
TheInland Valley Daily Bulletin is a daily newspaper based inOntario, California, serving thePomona Valley and southwestSan Bernardino County. TheDaily Bulletin is a member of the Southern California News Group (formerly theLos Angeles Newspaper Group), a division ofDigital First Media.[1]
The coverage area for theDaily Bulletin includes Pomona, San Dimas, La Verne and Claremont inLos Angeles County, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland inSan Bernardino County.
On October 7, 1882, theThe Pomona Times was founded by W.D. Morton and H.N Short.[2][3] About 18 months later theTimes merged with theThe Pomona Courier, founded by John H. Lee on December 15, 1883, and formed theTimes-Courier, jointly owned by Morton and Lee, with Short withdrawing.[4][5] In November 1885, Morton sold out to Charles E. Summer.[3]
On January 31, 1885, thePomona Progress was first published by Edward S. Stowell.[6] The paper almost ceased after six weeks due to financial difficulties and fire destroyed its office. Col. Frank P. Firey rescued the paper with his own funds.[3][7] On May 28, 1885, Charles I. Lorbeer joined Firey as a co-owner while Stowell remained as editor and manager.[8][3] On December 31, 1885, theProgress bought and absorbed theTelegram.[9][3] Stowell got sick and the paper was leased on May 27, 1886, to W.D. Morton and W. Cobler. Later that year B.A. Stephens acquired the lease and ownership later reverted back to Lorbeer and Stowell. H.G. Tinsely became a co-owner on March 22, 1888.[10]
Around that time Summer sold his half-stake in theTimes to William E. Ward.[3] His partner Lee sold out to Willard Goodwin, who was also later bought out by C.B. Messenger.[3] Sidney M. Haskell bought out Lorbeer from theProgress on July 23, 1891,[10] and soon bought out Tinsely as well.[3] Gen. John Wasson, formerly of theChino Champion, bought out Ward from theTimes in August 1891.[11] Messenger sold hisTimes stake on August 27, 1902 to C.B. Roberts.[3] Haskell sold theProgress on February 20, 1905 to William Everett Stevens and Almon T. Richardson.[12][13] H.H. Kinney bought theTimes interests of Roberts on November 7, 1906. He became the sole owner after Wasson died.[3]
On January 26, 1915, Edwin Ellis King, his brother W.M. King, his son Nelson J. King, and Roy L. Driscoll, purchasedThe Pomona Times from Kinney, who operated it for six years. The King brothers then renamed it toThe Pomona Bulletin.[14][15] A year later the King family expanded the paper from a weekly to a daily.[16] On April 1, 1916, thePomona Progress bought and absorbed thePomona Review.[17][18] On April 1, 1927, the morningBulletin and the eveningProgress merged to form theProgress-Bulletin.[19][15] The newly combined circulation was 6,000.[19] E.E. King died in 1931.[15] Stevens died in 1948,[20] and Richardson then succeeded him as company president.[21]
On December 16, 1885, the first issue of theOntario Record was published.[22] It was founded by brothers E.P. Clarke, editor of theRiverside Daily Press, and A.F. Clarke. The first issue was printed in Pomona.[23][24] A decade later the Clarkes announcedRecord had been sold to a Mr. Houghtaling ofNew York so they could devote more time to their Riverside paper.[25] In 1896, the Clarke brothers sold theRecord again, this time to Robert C.P. Smith and A.A. Piddington.[26] Smith bought out his partner after a year.[27]
In 1901, theOntario Record, owned by R.C.P. Smith, merged with theOntario Observer, owned by Irving S. Watson, to form theOntario Record-Observer.[28] A year later banker George Chaffey bought the business and installed Shirley L. Holt as editor.[29] Shirley left in 1904 to operate theWhittier News and was succeeded Robert O. Brackenridge. By then the paper had been renamed back to theRecord.[30]
In 1906, Fred E. Unholz bought the paper from Brackenridge,[31] and sold it in 1909 to S.W. Wall and P.W. Tournson.[32] Unholz soon reacquired ownership and on September 12, 1910, launched a daily edition of theRecord calledThe Daily Republican.[33][34] He sold the paper again in October 1911 to Harry L. Allen and Crombie Allen ofGreensburg, Pennsylvania.[35] The name of theRepublican was changed on January 1, 1912, toThe Daily Report.[36]
On August 1, 1930, the Allen brothers announced the sale of the newspaper to Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Appleby, fromLa Grande, Oregon, who had moved to Ontario with two young sons. Appleby had published newspapers inWashington, Iowa, and in La Grande.[37] Appleby died on July 26, 1936, in the family summer home atLaguna Beach. His obituary in theLos Angeles Times noted that theDaily Report "is known as one of the most progressive and attractive-looking newspapers in Southern California."[38][39] At that time, the circulation was about 4,000.[24] His widow, Jerene C., took over as publisher of the newspaper. She later married architect Jay Dewey Harnish,[40] and was thenceforth known as Jerene Appleby Harnish. The company went on to launch the radio station KOCS, bothAM andFM.[41][42]
On March 30, 1965, Almon T. Richardson, owner of thePomona Progress-Bulletin, purchased theOntario Daily Report from Mrs. Jerene Appleby Harnish and her family. Mrs. Harnish was then given the honorary title "publisher emeritus". At that time theReport's daily circulation was 28,000, and the sale price of the company was $5 million.[24][43]
In 1967,Donrey Media acquired The Progress-Bulletin Publishing company. A.T. Richardson was board chairman and his son C.T. Richardson was acting general manager. The sale included two dallies (Progress Bulletin ofPomona andThe Daily Report ofOntario) along with six weeklies:Upland News,Montclair Tribune,Cucamonga Times,La Verne Leader,San Dimas Press andThe Diamond Bar Walnut Valley Bulletin.[44] In 1972, A.T. Richardson died.[21]
In 1990, Donrey Media merged theProgress Bulletin ofPomona withThe Daily Report ofOntario to form theInland Valley Daily Bulletin At that time the combine circulation was 90,000.[45][46] In 1999,Digital First Media took control of the paper.[47] After 30 years of operations from its Ontario Office, theDaily Bulletin moved toRancho Cucamonga in 2015.[48]
In 1953, Mrs. Jerene Appleby Harnish and other partners of theDaily Report sued Ontario City Councilman Oregon Smith for slander because Smith said at a City Council meeting that the newspaper "without question" had been following "theCommunist Party line".[49] Superior Judge Raymond H. Thompson decided in favor of Smith, whose attorney was California politicianJack B. Tenney. The judge dismissed the case because there was "no limitation" on the statements that a city council member could make during a meeting.[50] The decision was upheld by aDistrict Court of Appeals in January 1956,[51] and later by theCalifornia Supreme Court.[52]
Afterward the newspaper published an article on January 16, 1958, stating that, had the decision gone the other way, "the public would have no protection against malicious statements made by unscrupulous members of any minor legislative body." On March 3 an editorial claimed that Smith had made the charge of communism "without regard to good morals and honesty." Smith sued for $3 million, charging libel. He later amended the complaint to include the newspaper's references to him going back as far as 1949. JudgeJesse W. Curtis Jr. dismissed the complaint in February 1958.[52][53]
Smith filed another suit in January or February 1957, alleging that the unsuccessful 1953 action against him by theDaily Report had been amalicious prosecution. He sought more than $1.5 million indamages.[54][55][56]
This latter suit was dismissed by Judge Richard B. Ault of San Diego Superior Court on motion of attorney Tenney on behalf of Smith. Tenney told a reporter that anout-of-court settlement had been made, but a defense attorney denied the statement and said the plaintiff had moved for dismissal to avoid "long and costly court proceedings".[56]
