 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Lee Enterprises |
| Founder(s) | Joseph Magee, W.H. Magee, and I. H. Morrison |
| Publisher | Bill Merrill |
| Editor | Laura Scheer |
| Founded | September 15, 1870; 155 years ago (1870-09-15), as theMissoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Missoula, Montana |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 16,652 Daily (as of 2023)[1] |
| ISSN | 0746-4495 |
| OCLC number | 10049426 |
| Website | missoulian |
TheMissoulian is a dailynewspaper printed inMissoula, Montana, United States. The newspaper has been owned byLee Enterprises since 1959. TheMissoulian is the largest published newspaper inWestern Montana, and is distributed throughout the city of Missoula, and most of Western Montana.
TheMissoulian was established as theMissoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer on September 15, 1870,[2] by the Magee Brothers and I. H. Morrison, under the Montana Publishing Company. Though strictly conservative politically, the paper was never intended to advance any particular "clique or party".[2] Slightly less than a year after removing "Cedar Creek" from the name, the paper's name was trimmed to simplyThe Pioneer in November 1871,[3] with W. J. McCormick, a prominent Montana politician and father of future CongressmanWashington J. McCormick, as publisher. It served as a Democratic paper that was devoted to reporting on the development of western Montana. A month later,Frank H. Woody, who later became Missoula's first mayor, was namedad interim, and he lengthened the name to theMontana Pioneer.[4] On February 8, 1873,[4] Woody and his partner T. M. Chisholm purchased the paper and changed its name toThe Missoulian. W. R. Turk replaced Chisholm and Woody sold out a year later, but the paper's name has more-or-less stayed the same until today. Turk died oftuberculosis in 1875, and the paper was published by Chauncey Barbour until August 15, 1879, when Duane J. Armstrong became editor and publisher.[5] The newspaper offered only a weekend edition until 1891, when new ownerA.B. Hammond converted it to a daily newspaper with Harrison Spaulding from theMissoula County Times as editor and publisher.
Hammond's purchase ofThe Missoulian brought the newspaper into the republican fold and on the battle lines of theWilliam A. Clark andMarcus DalyCopper Kings feud. Hammond was a lumber baron and business partner of Daly in the Montana Improvement Company, who saw the Democratic president,Grover Cleveland's public land policies as a detriment to his business. Hammond had become very wealthy over-logging unsurveyed public timberland and supplying lumber to the railroad and Daly'sAnaconda Company's smelter. Hammond and his associates in Missoula convinced Daly to thwart Clark's 1888 bid for theMontana Territory's At-large congressional district and support RepublicanThomas H. Carter instead. Despite Clark crying foul, Carter went on to win.[6][7]
Daly's election maneuvering created a major rift between the Copper Kings, and the next year he became chairman of the Montana Democratic Party. He asked for Hammond's support and Hammond responded by delivering a Republican sweep of the Missoula delegation. This infuriated Daly, who declared war on Hammond and threatened to "make grass grow in the streets of Missoula". Several years later, as Montana's press was divided on whether to keep the state's capital in Clark's choice ofHelena or move it Daly's company town ofAnaconda, Hammond who was worried that further empowered Daly would weaken Missoula loanedThe Missoulian to Clark's team, who derided Anaconda. "What has Anaconda ever done for Missoula, anyway? If Christ came to Anaconda he would be compelled to eat, sleep, drink and pray with Marcus Daly." Though the majority of Missoula County voted for Anaconda as capital, enough voted for Helena for it to win the statewide contest.[6][7]
In 1900, Hammond began selling stock in theMissoulian to political rivalJoseph M. Dixon, who later became aUS Congressman,US Senator, and the state ofMontana's seventhgovernor. In December 1906, Wilhelm's Magazine,The Coast, described the newspaper as "one of the best papers in the state of Montana and has the credit of being a strong paper in all matters pertaining to public and state affairs. It is large, well edited and a credit to Missoula."[8] Dixon gained control over the paper in 1907, and brought in Arthur Stone, a formerAnaconda Standard reporter and managing editor, as well as former Democratic state legislator, as editor. His experience helped further modernize the paper and expand its reach.[9][6] The RepublicanDaily Missoulian (as it was called until 1961) was soon rivaled by the Democrat-leaningMissoula Herald, published by the Hassler Brothers and its successor, theMissoula Sentinel, that was purchased in 1912 (one year after its founding) by Richard Kilroy for the purpose of politically wounding Dixon, as he ran for re-election in the first yearSenators were popularly elected. (*note. Though the17th Amendment to the Constitution was not ratified until 1913, the Montana legislature provided for the direct election of US Senators in 1911, in anticipation of the amendment's ratification.)[10] Dixon lost the election in a Democratic sweep and lost the paper for financial reasons, five years later.
Montana's press in 1912 was almost entirely under the influence and control of theAnaconda Copper Mining Company, then known as "Amalgamated Copper Company" or, in a nod to its incredible clout in Montana politics and journalism, simply "The Company". TheMissoulian was not a "Company paper"; according to Jerre Murphy, a former Amalgamated employee turnedmuckracker, it was the only major newspaper in Montana that was not.[11] After his election defeat, Dixon turned theMissoulian against Amalgamated with scathing editorials and "objectionable" news. With Dixon refusing to sell the paper, the Company chose bribery, by offering Dixon theMissoula Sentinel that Dixon felt was splitting the city's advertising dollars. Dixon accepted, but only on the condition that he would be "fair" to Amalgamated in the press. Pressure on advertisers for new anti-Dixon competition and Amalgamated itself pulling its advertising dollars, as well as having theMilwaukee Road cancel complimentary papers that it had given to passengers, however, forced Dixon to sell. Two newspapermen from theChicago Journal, Martin Hutchens and Lester L. Jones, purchased theMissoulian and were soon part of the "copper press" (i.e. a "Company paper" known for using its pages to promote the Company's views and for suppressing news it didn't want reported) and remained as such, until Anaconda Copper sold all its Montana newspapers toLee Enterprises, in 1959.[6]
By the late 1950s, the Anaconda Company's newspaper model of toeing the company line and avoiding controversy had left the company's papers self-conscious and defensive to the point that Don Anderson commented in its appraisal of the newspapers that "They even refused to take a stand on the weather." When the papers were finally sold in 1959, only theBillings Gazette andMissoulian were profitable and in growing markets. Ultimately, the financial difficulties of the company's papers around the state may have helpedLee Enterprises, who faced competition from much larger organizations, such as theCowles Media Company and theRidder Corporation, purchase the newspaper block. Larger publishers were only interested in the two profitable papers, while the Anaconda Company insisted on selling the papers as a block, with an implicit guarantee that individual papers not be sold off to recoup losses. Also in Lee Enterprises' favor was that Don Anderson, publisher of theWisconsin State Journal and later, president of Lee Newspapers in Montana, who in 2007 had the newUniversity of Montana School of Journalism building named after him, was a Montana native who understood the political climate and had worked with Anaconda Company staff as a young reporter. He and Lee Enterprises' CEO, Phillip Adler, successfully purchased the papers despite not being the highest bidders with an agreement made in late May. The newspapers each announced the change in ownership with a "hello" on June 2, 1959, stressing that they would be accountable to the public and not their parent company.[6]
While most of Lee Enterprises' new newspapers retained their leadership, theMissoulian was an exception, whereLloyd Schermer, son-in-law of Phillip Adler, took over as publisher.[6]
In April 2023, at least three newsroom employees were laid off.[12] Then starting July 11, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper was reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper transitioned from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.[13][14] In September 2024, the paper laid off its statewide enterprise editor after eliminating the position.[15]
TheMissoulian began as the weeklyMissoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer in 1870, before being renamedThe Missoula Pioneer in 1871, but under the Montana Publishing Company. It was rechristenedThe Pioneer, later in 1871, by the Pioneer Publishing Company and then,The Montana Pioneer near the end of 1872, by Washington J. McCormick Sr., before being purchased byFrank Woody and T. M. Chisholm a couple months later and renamedThe Weekly Missoulian. This remained its incarnation, through 1898.[16]
The Weekly Missoulian continued for a year, from January 1899 to April 1900, as the still weeklyThe Missoulian, published by Bryan Bros. & Hauck.[17] The weekly newspaper was then purchased by the Fruit-Grower Publishing Company and existed as a horticulture and general news publication, until the mid-1910s. In 1889, Harrison Spaulding foundedThe Morning Missoulian, as a daily (minus Monday) paper to complementThe Weekly Missoulian. By 1893, this was changed toThe Evening Missoulian, and then, to theDaily Missoulian, under the Missoula Publishing Company with Harrison Spaulding as editor. After brief separate ownership, both the daily and weeklyMissoulians were reclaimed by the Missoula Publishing Company, withThe Daily Missoulian lasting until 1961, when it was once again called theMissoulian, after being purchased byLee Enterprises.[18]
Weekly[19]
Daily
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