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 The March 22, 2009 front page of The Gainesville Sun | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Gannett |
| Publisher | Rynni Henderson (2019–present)[1] |
| Editor | Douglas Ray |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Headquarters | 2700 SW 13th St. Gainesville, Florida 32608-2015 United States 29°37′37″N82°20′25″W / 29.6269°N 82.3403°W /29.6269; -82.3403 |
| Circulation | 14,389[2] |
| ISSN | 0163-4925 |
| Website | gainesville |
The Gainesville Sun (ISSN 0163-4925) is anewspaper published daily inGainesville, Florida, United States, covering theNorth-Central portion of the state.
The paper was founded in July 1876 as theGainesville Times, by brothers E. M. andWilliam Wade Hampton, and was renamed asThe Gainesville Sun in February 1879.[3][4] The paper was first printed on July 6, 1876.[5] It went through a series of ownership and name changes in the 1880s and 1890s, first being consolidated withHenry Hamilton McCreary'sWeekly Bee as theGainesville Sun and Bee, then as theGainesville Daily Sun, and finally back to theGainesville Sun.[3]
It was bought by W.M. Pepper Sr., in 1917 for $50,000, and was published by the Pepper family for three generations, until it was sold to theCowles Media Company in 1962. During the time it was owned by the Pepper family (specifically in 1922) an editor at the paper openly admitted his membership in theKu Klux Klan and praised the Klan in print.[6] This attitude helps to explain the editorial published in the paper following theRosewood massacre justifying the actions of the whites, saying "Let it be understood now and forever that he, whether white or black, who brutally assaults an innocent and helpless woman, shall die the death of a dog." Conversely, theTampa Tribune of the time called it "a lasting blot on the people ofLevy county",[7] clearly condemning rather than justifying the massacre.
In 1971, it was sold toThe New York Times Company.[4] On January 6, 2012,The Gainesville Sun was purchased byHalifax Media Group.[8] In 2015, Halifax was acquired byNew Media Investment Group.[9]
An online edition was launched in 1995, initially calledSunOne, and later simplyGainesvilleSun.com.[4] The website is now known as Gainesville.com. In 2005, it launchedThe Gainesville Guardian, a weekly paper aimed at East Gainesville and the city'sAfrican-American population, to mixed opinions.[10]
The Gainesville Sun has won twoPulitzer Prizes: publisher John R. Harrison won in 1966 for his campaign for better housing codes, and editorialist Horance G. "Buddy" Davis Jr. won in 1971 for his editorials in support of peaceful desegregation of the local school system.[4]