 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Digital First Media |
| Founder | John D. Palmer |
| Publisher | Ron Hasse |
| Editor | Frank Pine |
| Founded | 1897; 128 years ago (1897) |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Long Beach,California |
| Circulation | 41,038 Daily 60,286 Sunday (as of September 2014) |
| Website | presstelegram.com |
ThePress-Telegram is a paid daily newspaper published inLong Beach, California. Coverage area for thePress-Telegram includes Long Beach,Lakewood,Signal Hill,Artesia,Bellflower,Cerritos,Compton,Downey,Hawaiian Gardens,Lynwood,Norwalk andParamount.
In September 1897, the twice-weeklyLong Beach Press was founded by John D. Palmer and Mr. Smith.[1] The two quickly bought the facility of theLong Beach Breaker to utilize for their business.[2] J.A. Miller bought thePress from them and edited it for seven years until he sold it in 1904 to A.C. Malone, the paper's business manager.[3] Malone sold out to a company called Press Publishing, of which J.P. Baumgartner was heavily invested.[4]
Baumgartner was president of theNational Editorial Association. He secured control of thePress after buying out C.L. Day and sold it.[4] In December 1910, thePress was acquired from Baumgartner by A.J. Hosking and brothersCharles H. Prisk andWilliam F. Prisk.[5] In 1924, theLong Beach Press merged with theLong Beach Daily Telegram. W.F. Frisk was made company president and Belle McCord Roberts made vice president. Frank M. Selover was named editor.[6][7] In 1932, thePress-Telegram bought and absorbed theLong Beach Daily Sun.[8]
In 1952, theLong BeachIndependent (founded in 1938) merged with thePress-Telegram, with theIndependent becoming the newspaper's morning edition and thePress-Telegram the evening edition.[9] In 1954, thePress-Telegram andIndependent were acquired by the Ridder family, who owned a dozen papers, along with several radio and television stations.[10] The two Long Beach papers had a combined circulation of approximately 243,000 at their peak in the late 1960s, under publisher Daniel Ridder and executive editor Miles Sines, making them the second largest printed news source in the Los Angeles area, behind theLos Angeles Times and ahead of the strike-decimatedHerald-Examiner.[9]
In 1974, Ridder Publications Inc. merged with Knight Newspapers Inc. to formKnight Ridder.[11] In 1981, theIndependent was discontinued.[9] In 1997, Knight Ridder sold thePress-Telegram to Garden State Newspapers Inc., an affiliateMediaNews Group.[12] Garden State later became theLos Angeles Newspaper Group.[13] In 2011, the paper eliminated its sports, photography, and features departments. Some of the eliminated positions were picked up by theTorrance Daily Breeze, a sibling publication.[14] In 2013, MediaNews Group and21st Century Media merged intoDigital First Media.[15]
The paper's longtime home, thePress-Telegram building at 6th Street and Pine Avenue, was sold in late 2006 to real estate developers intending to convert the property into condominiums. The paper's operations were moved to the Arco Center inDowntown Long Beach. The building at 6th Street and Pine Avenue in Downtown Long Beach occupied nearly the entire block, and at one time encompassed the entire production of the paper, including the presses, which were formerly visible behind glass windows at street level. The old building on Pine Avenue was eventually acquired and redeveloped byMolina Healthcare. The paper is currently located at 5225 E. Second St., Suite 400, Long Beach, CA 90803.
On September 30, 1933, thePress-Telegram published what David Dayen called "One of the more influential letters to the editor in American history":Francis Townsend's letter outlining the Townsend Plan, a proposal that sparked a national campaign which influenced the establishment of the Roosevelt administration'sSocial Security system.[16]
For the2016 presidential election, the paper chose to endorse no candidate.[17] This waslater repeated in the 2020 cycle.
For the2021 California recall election, the paper joined its fellow members of theSouthern California News Group and endorsed the recall, while also endorsing RepublicanLarry Elder to replace Democratic GovernorGavin Newsom.[18]
