 | |
_front_page.jpg) Front page on April 4, 2007 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner |
|
| Publisher | Jody Jalbert |
| Editor | Judy Meyer |
| Founded | May 20, 1847 |
| Headquarters | 64 Lisbon Street Lewiston, Maine, U.S. |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 18,600 (as of 2017)[1] |
| OCLC number | 1058326012 |
| Website | sunjournal.com |
TheSun Journal is anewspaper published inLewiston, Maine, United States, which covers central and westernMaine. In addition to its main office in Lewiston, the newspaper also maintains satellite news and sales bureaus in the Maine towns ofFarmington,Norway andRumford. It is the third largest daily newspaper by circulation in Maine.
Though its history dates back to 1847, theSun Journal has existed in its current iteration since 1989, when Lewiston's two largest newspapers, the morningLewiston Daily Sun and afternoonLewiston Evening Journal were combined into one publication. Long owned and published by the Costello family, the newspaper was purchased byReade Brower, owner ofMaineToday Media, in 2017.
In August 2023, The National Trust for Local News completed its purchase of the newspaper and included it in a new non-profit group of newspapers in Maine called theMaine Trust for Local News.[2] The group began to control some other publications previously controlled by Brower.
The lineage of theSun Journal can be traced back to May 20, 1847, when printer William Waldron and futureGovernor of Maine, Dr.Alonzo Garcelon founded Lewiston's first paper, a weekly called theLewiston Falls Journal. In 1857, former employeeNelson Dingley Jr. became owner and publisher, and the paper entered into full-time daily publication in April 1861. It rebranded in 1866 as theLewiston Evening Journal.
In 1893,The Lewiston Daily Sun emerged as a competitor and would, under the stewardship of George W. Wood, became the leading morning daily in the region. The two papers maintained a fierce rivalry until Wood purchased theJournal from the Dingley family on February 1, 1926, moving production from theDingley Building toThe Sun's facility at 104 Park Street in Lewiston.[3] By 1945, when Wood died, theSun andJournal were the fourth and fifth most-read dailies in the state with circulations of 27,480 and 14,088, respectively.[4]
Wood's heir wasLouis B. Costello, who began asThe Sun's business manager in 1898 and was promoted to general manager and treasurer of the papers' publishing company in 1926. He, in turn, left the papers to his son Russell, who, in 1989, combined the two papers form theSun Journal. In 2017, the Sun Media Group was sold by the Costello family to Reade Brower, owner ofMaineToday Media.[5][6]
TheSun Journal began publishing its Monday paper online-only March 2, 2020, along with three other Maine Dailies owned by MaineToday Media.[7]
Starting in April 2025, the paper will be printed five days a week instead of six and will be delivered by mail via U.S. Postal Service instead of newspaper carriers.[8]
TheSun Journal prices are: $2 daily, $3 Sunday.
On October 1, 2007, theSun Journal purchasedKirkland Newspapers of Farmington, the publisher of fourweekly newspapers:[9]
TheSun Journal also ownsThe Forecaster, a free regional paper.
The Advertiser Democrat,Bethel Citizen, andRumford Falls Times (weeklies) are published by theSun Journal as well.
