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 July 27, 2005 front page of The Tennessean | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | USA Today Co. |
| Editor | Benjamin Goad |
| Founded | May 12, 1907; 118 years ago (1907-05-12) (asThe Nashville Tennessean) |
| Headquarters | 1801 West End Ave Nashville,Tennessee 37203  United States |
| Circulation |
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| Website | www |
The Tennessean (known until 1972[2] asThe Nashville Tennessean) is a daily newspaper inNashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties inMiddle Tennessee and eight counties in southernKentucky. It is owned byGannett, which also owns several smaller community newspapers in Middle Tennessee, includingThe Dickson Herald, theGallatin News-Examiner, theHendersonville Star-News, theFairview Observer, and theAshland City Times. Its circulation area overlaps those of theClarksville Leaf-Chronicle andThe Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, two other independent Gannett papers. The company publishes several specialty publications, includingNashville Lifestyles magazine.
The Tennessean, Nashville's daily newspaper, traces its roots back to theNashville Whig, a weekly paper that began publication on September 1, 1812. The paper underwent various mergers and acquisitions throughout the 19th century, emerging as theNashville American.
The first issue of theNashville Tennessean was printed on Sunday May 12, 1907. The paper was founded by Col.Luke Lea, a 28-year-oldattorney and local political activist.
In 1910, the publishers purchased a controlling interest in theNashville American. They began publishing an edition known asThe Tennessean American. When theAmerican formally folded in 1911, some of its employees banded together to found theNashville Democrat. This paper was purchased by theTennessean in 1913.
In 1931, Col. Luke Lea and his son Luke Lea, Jr. wereindicted for their role in the failure of the Central Bank and Trust Co. ofAsheville, North Carolina. On March 3, 1933, the newspaper was placed under federalreceivership, andAshland City attorney and formerTennessean editorial writerLittleton J. Pardue was appointed to direct the paper. Under his leadership circulation grew swiftly, but the newspaper continued to lose money.
In 1935, theReconstruction Finance Corporation acquired a large portion of the paper's outstanding bonds. It eventually sold them toPaul Davis, president of theFirst American National Bank of Nashville.
Still suffering from effects of theGreat Depression, the paper was sold at auction in 1937, when it was purchased for $850,000 by Silliman Evans, Sr. a former reporter for theFort Worth Star-Telegram. Evans came to an agreement withNashville Banner publisher James Stahlman to move both newspapers into new offices at 1100 Broadway. He created theNewspaper Printing Corporation as a business agent for both papers. As part of this agreement, theTennessean ceased publication of its evening editions, and theBanner ceased publication of its Sunday edition. The two newspapers maintained ajoint operating agreement from 1937 until theBanner ceased publication February 20, 1998. The two papers operated out of the same building and shared advertising and production staff, but maintained separate (and distinct) ownership and editorial voices.
On June 2, 1955, Silliman Evans Jr. was named president of the paper. After his father died unexpectedly of aheart attack on June 26, the board of the paper elected him publisher, and he became president of the Newspaper Printing Corporation in August.
In 1957,TennesseancartoonistTom Little won aPulitzer Prize for his cartoon,"Wonder Why My Parents Didn't Give Me Salk Shots?", encouraging parents to have their childrenimmunized against polio.
In 1961, Silliman Evans Jr. died of a heart attack at age 36 while on his boat onOld Hickory Lake. Ownership of the newspaper passed to his mother, and several months later his brotherAmon Carter Evans was named Chief Executive of the paper.
Tennessean reportersNat Caldwell andGene Graham won aPulitzer Prize in 1962 "[f]or their exclusive disclosure and six years of detailed reporting, under great difficulties, of the undercover cooperation between management interests in the coal industry and theUnited Mine Workers." In the same year,John Seigenthaler Sr. was named editor of the newspaper. He would earn the additional title of publisher in 1973.
In 1972, the Gannett Corporation purchased theNashville Banner from the Stahlman family. In 1979, Gannett sold theBanner to a group of local investors including political figureJohn Jay Hooker, businessman Brownlee Currey andFranklin banker Irby Simpkins for about $25 million. It then purchased theTennessean from the Evans family for about $50 million. John Seigenthaler became president, publisher, and editor of the Gannett-ownedTennessean. HistorianE. Thomas Wood says that "without question" Seigenthaler ran the newspaper as a liberal one.[3]
In 1976, when it was revealed thatTennessean reporterJacqueline Srouji had for many years been working as an informant (and possiblyagent provocateur) for theFBI, including spying on her colleagues at the paper, Seigenthaler fired her immediately. Srouji claimed that when she had started as a reporter for theNashville Banner over a decade before, that paper's publisher had encouraged her to hand over information to the FBI.[4]
In 1989, Frank Sutherland was named editor. He had begun his career as a reporter at the paper in 1963. Seigenthaler retired as publisher in 1991. He was replaced by Craig Moon, who held the post until he moved into a corporate position with Gannett in 2002; Moon was later named publisher ofUSA Today. Leslie Giallombardo was publisher from 2002 to 2005. Seigenthaler remained "Chairman Emeritus"[citation needed] until he died.
In September 1998, the paper launched Tennessean.com, its news and informationwebsite.
Among the notable journalists who have worked forThe Tennessean are Vice PresidentAl Gore and his wifeTipper,Pulitzer Prize winning authorDavid Halberstam,New York Times best-selling authorJeff Pearlman, long-time sports columnistLarry Woody and cartoonistAnthony Wright.
In early 2019,The Tennessean confirmed that it would be leaving its long-time headquarters at 1100 Broadway for a smaller facility nearby, and that its printing operations would be consolidated with those of the Gannett-ownedKnoxville News-Sentinel at a facility near Knoxville, resulting in much earlierdeadlines for its print editions.
In March 2013,[5]The Tennessean's circulation was reported as 100,825 daily (M-F), 102,855 (Sat) and 227,626 (Sun). In contrast, as of November 2, 2005, the paper reported dailycirculation of 177,714; Saturday circulation of 199,489 and Sunday circulation of 250,575.
The paper's primary print competitors are the weeklyNashville Scene and theNashville Business Journal. In 2004 Gannett announced the acquisition of theFranklin Review-Appeal, andThe Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro fromMorris Multimedia. TheReview-Appeal became a supplement ofThe Tennessean, while theDaily News Journal continued to operate as an independent newspaper.
The paper maintains two Goss Colorliner presses. In 2002, the paper completed installation of a MAN RolandUNISET press, which is now used to print regional editions ofUSA Today, as well as commercial printing jobs. In early 2019 it was announced that theTennessean would begin to be printed inKnoxville on presses which it would share with theKnoxville News-Sentinel.
John Seigenthaler joinedThe Tennessean in 1949, resigning in 1960 to act asRobert F. Kennedy's administrative assistant. He rejoinedThe Tennessean as editor in 1962, publisher in 1973, and chairman in 1982 before retiring as chairman emeritus in 1991.
Ellen Leifeld was named as publisher in September 2005, succeeding Leslie Giallombardo, who became the newspaper's first female publisher in April 2002. Carol Hudler was named publisher in 2009 when Leifeld retired. Hudler was replaced by Laura Hollingsworth, who was named president and publisher in May 2013.
Frank Sutherland served as editor of the newspaper from 1989–2004. He began hisjournalism career as a reporter at the paper in the 1960s and returned as editor after a serving in several leadership positions at other newspapers. He announced his retirement in September 2004. He was briefly succeeded byEverett J. Mitchell II, the former managing editor of theDetroit News, who was the firstAfrican American to be editor ofThe Tennessean. In September 2006, Mark Silverman was announced as editor. He was replaced by Maria De Varenne in 2011, who held the executive editor post until February 2014. At that time,Stefanie Murray was named vice president for content and engagement. She was previously an assistant managing editor at theDetroit Free Press.[6]
