 The October 16, 2008, front page of The Tampa Tribune | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Tampa Media Group, Inc. |
| Founded | 1895; 130 years ago (1895) |
| Ceased publication | 2016 (2016) |
| Headquarters | 202 South Parker Street Tampa,Florida, U.S. 33606 |
| Circulation | 226,990[1] |
| ISSN | 1042-3761 |
The Tampa Tribune was a dailynewspaper published inTampa, Florida. Along with the competingTampa Bay Times, theTampa Tribune was one of two majornewspapers published in theTampa Bay area.
The newspaper also published aSt. Petersburg Tribune edition, sold and distributed inPinellas County. It published aSunday magazine,Florida Accent, during the 1960s and 1970s.The Tampa Tribune also operatedHighlands Today, a daily newspaper inSebring. TheTribune stopped publishing theHernando Today, which was located inBrooksville, on December 1, 2014, citing "a tough newspaper advertising climate."[2]
On May 3, 2016, theTampa Bay Times announced that it had acquired theTribune, and was combining theTimes andTribune's operations, ending publication of theTribune.[3]
Daily publication of theTribune started in 1895 whenWallace Stovall upgraded printing from once a week.
In 1927, newspaper mogulJohn Stewart Bryan, ofVirginia, and his business partner Samuel Emory Thomason, previously a vice-president with theChicago Tribune, purchasedThe Tampa Tribune for $900,000.[4][5]
The Tampa Tribune Publishing company grew to include theTampa Tribune, theTampa Times,TBO.com,TampaBayOnline.com,WFLA radio, andWFLA-TV.[4]
In 1966, theTampa Tribune, along with sister propertiesWFLA-AM-FM-TV, was purchased byRichmond Newspapers, becomingMedia General in 1969. Since 2000, theTribune partnered withWFLA-TV and TBO.com in aconverged arrangement, all connected with one another under owner Media General. The large media complex is located on Parker Street inDowntown Tampa. TheTribune was a flagship newspaper under the Media General banner until it was sold in 2012.
Executive editorJanet Coats left the paper in December 2009 and was not replaced until May 17, 2012, when managing editor Richard "Duke" Maas was promoted to executive editor.
On May 17, 2012, it was announced that investment companyBerkshire Hathaway would be acquiring Media General's newspaper division; the purchase did not include theTribune or its associated regional papers, which were being retained by Media General.[6] No reason was given as to why Media General was retaining theTribune, but there was speculation that the paper would be sold to another party, such asHalifax Media Group (which owns several papers in Florida) or a completely different owner, or that the paper would merge with theTampa Bay Times.[7] In October 2012,The Tampa Tribune and its associated print and digital products were acquired by Tampa Media Group, Inc., a new company formed by Revolution Capital Group.[8]
On May 3, 2016, theTampa Bay Times announced that it had acquired theTribune, and was combining theTimes andTribune's operations, ending publication of theTribune.[3] The acquisition also includesHighlands Today, weekly newspaperThe Suncoast News, and weekly Spanish-language newspaperCentro; all of these will continue publishing under Times' ownership. TheTampa Tribune name will be repurposed as a neighborhood news section of the Times.[3]
In 1958, theTribune acquired Tampa's struggling evening newspaper, theTampa Daily Times. TheTribune published the paper asThe Tampa Times until 1982. From then until theTribune closed down, theTribune displayed the logo forThe Tampa Times in the masthead on the front section. This was part of an effort by theTribune to keep its trademark on theTampa Times name, and to avoid confusion with the then-St. Petersburg Times, which long published a Tampa edition. In 2006, it was decided in a lawsuit that theTribune could keep its exclusive use of theTampa Times name, but only for five years. This exclusivity ended at the end of 2011, allowing theSt. Petersburg Times to rename itself theTampa Bay Times, effective January 1, 2012.[9] The decision did not restrict the use ofThe Tampa Times name by theTribune after the expiration of exclusivity.
TheTampa Tribune won aPulitzer Prize in 1966 for local investigative specialized reporting. The award went to John Anthony Frasca for his "investigation and reporting of two robberies that resulted in the freeing of an innocent man."[10]