 The July 27, 2005, front page of the Reading Eagle | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet (1867–2009; 2018–)Berliner (2009–2018) |
| Owner | Reading Eagle Company |
| Publisher | MediaNews Group |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Headquarters | 345 Penn St. Reading, Pennsylvania 19603-0582, U.S. |
| ISSN | 2469-3448 |
| Website | readingeagle.com |
TheReading Eagle is the major dailynewspaper inReading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays).[1] It serves the Reading andBerks County region of Pennsylvania.
After celebrating itssesquicentennial of local ownership and editorial control in 2018, theReading Eagle was acquired by theDenver-basedMediaNews Group's Digital First Media in May 2019.[2][3][4][5]
The newspaper was founded on January 28, 1867.[6] Initially an afternoon paper, it was published Monday through Saturday, and a Sunday morning edition was added later.
In 1940,The Eagle acquired theReading Times, which was the city's morning paper, though they remained editorially separate newspapers.[7][8][9] The staff of the two papers was combined in 1982.[10] In June 2002, theReading Times ceased publication, and theEagle became a morning paper.[10][11] The two newspapers published a joint Saturday-morning edition since 1988.
AuthorJohn Updike worked atThe Eagle as a copyboy in his youth for several summer internships in the early 1950s, and wrote several feature articles.[12][13]
In 2009, the newspaper switched to aBerliner format and laid off 52 employees in late April of that year.[14][15]
After celebrating itssesquicentennial of local ownership and editorial control, the family-owned newspaper suffered financial hardships, and cut 16 percent of its newsroom staff on May 23, 2018. Several months later, it reverted to its previous broadsheet size.[16] Less than a year later, the company announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection on March 20, 2019.[17] In May 2019, the newspaper was acquired by theDenver-basedMediaNews Group's Digital First Media division in May 2019.[18][19][20][21] As of July 1, 2021, MNG has laid off numerous employees from the newsroom, where no salary increases have been issued since 2008. MNG also doesn't contribute to a 401(k) plan.
For many years, the SundayReading Eagle featured a banner on itsSunday comics section advertised as the "Biggest Comics Section in the Land",[22] and ran over 50 features until the late 1980s. Until 1995, it occupied two sections. It carriedhalf pages ofPrince Valiant,Hägar the Horrible, andTarzan, and smaller versions ofDick Tracy,The Phantom, and other popular humor strips. On July 8, 2018, however, it followed the path of most dwindling American newspapers, and reduced the size of its comics section and of the strips it carries.