''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primar ...

'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''

Detroit Tribune The ''Detroit Tribune'' a newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States, was started as the ''Daily Tribune'' in 1849 and used the name until 1862. In 1862 the ''Tribune'' joined with the (Detroit) ''Daily Advertiser'' which then absorbed other ...

'' on February 1, 1919, the '' Detroit Journal'' on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960, it bought and closed the faltering '' Detroit Times''. However, it retained the ''Times building, which it used as a printing plant until 1975, when a new facility opened in Sterling Heights. The ''Times'' building was demolished in 1978. The street in downtown Detroit where the Times building once stood is still called "

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

." The Evening News Association, owner of ''The News'', merged with

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Outfront Media through a series of mergers, operated many billboards across Detroit and the surrounding area, including advertising displays on Detroit Department of Transportation and

Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is the public transit operator serving the Metro Detroit, suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, United States. It supplements the Detroit Department of Transportation, which operates bu ...

buses, with its only competitor, primarily along Metro Detroit's freeway network, being 3M National Advertising (now

Lamar Advertising Lamar Advertising is an outdoor advertising company which operates billboards, logo signs, and transit displays in the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1902 by Charles W. Lamar and J.M. Coe, and is headquartered in Baton Rou ...

). ''The News'' claims to have been the first newspaper in the world to operate a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

station, station 8MK, which began broadcasting August 20, 1920. 8MK is now CBS-owned WWJ. In 1947, it established Michigan's first television station, WWJ-TV, now WDIV-TV; it has been a primary NBC affiliate since sign-on, owing to WWJ-AM's ties with the NBC Radio Network. In 1989, the paper entered into a one hundred year joint operating agreement with the rival ''Free Press'', combining business operations while keeping separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called the Detroit Media Partnership (DMP). The ''Free Press'' moved into ''The News'' building in 1998 and until May 7, 2006, the two published a single joint weekend edition. Today, ''The News'' is published Monday–Saturday, and has an editorial page in the Sunday ''Free Press''. ''The Detroit News'' has an online version, including a separate website for connections from European Union countries that does not track personal information. ''The Detroit News'' has won three

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

History

''The Detroit News'' was founded by James E. Scripps, who, in turn, was the older half-brother and one-time partner of

Edward W. Scripps Edward Willis Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher and, together with his sister Ellen Browning Scripps, founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press ne ...

. The paper's eventual success, however, is largely credited to Scripps' son-in-law,

George Gough Booth George Gough Booth (September 24, 1864 – April 11, 1949) was the publisher of the privately held Evening News Association, a co-founder of Booth Newspapers, and a philanthropist. Biography He was born on September 24, 1864 in Toronto to Henry ...

, who came aboard at the request of his wife's father. Booth went on to construct Michigan's largest newspaper empire, founding the independent

Booth Newspapers MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers in the state of Michigan. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold to Advance Publication ...

chain (now owned by S.I. Newhouse's

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, a ...

) with his two brothers. ''The Detroit News'' building was erected in 1917. It was designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Albert Kahn, who included a faux-stone concrete building with large street-level arches to admit light. The arches along the east and south side of the building were bricked-in for protection after the

12th Street Riot The 1967 Detroit Riot, also known as the 12th Street Riot or Detroit Rebellion, was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the "Long, hot summer of 1967". Composed mainly of confrontations between Black residents and the De ...

in 1967. The bricked-in arches on the east and south ends of the building were reopened during renovations required when the ''Free Press'' relocated its offices there 20 years later. In 1931, ''The Detroit News'' made history when it bought a three-place

Pitcairn PCA-2 The Pitcairn PCA-2 was an autogyro (designated as "autogiro" by Pitcairn) developed in the United States in the early 1930s.Taylor 1989, p.735 It was Harold F. Pitcairn's first autogyro design to sell in quantity. It had a conventional design fo ...

auto-gyro as a camera aircraft that could take off and land in restricted places and semi-hover for photos. It was the ancestor of today's well-known news helicopter. In 1935 a single

Lockheed Model 9 Orion The Lockheed Model 9 Orion is a single-engined passenger aircraft built in 1931 for commercial airlines. It was the first airliner to have retractable landing gear and was faster than any military aircraft of that time. Designed by Richard A. vo ...

was purchased and modified by Lockheed as a news camera plane for ''The Detroit News''. To work in that role, a pod was built into the frontal leading edge of the right-wing about out from the fuselage. This pod had a glass dome on the front and a mounted camera. To aim the camera the pilot was provided with a primitive grid-like gun sight on his windshield. Deb Price’s debut column in ''The Detroit News'' in 1992 was the first syndicated national column in American mainstream media that spoke about gay life. On July 13, 1995,

Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practic ...

employees of the ''Detroit Free Press'' and ''The News'' along with pressmen, printers and Teamsters, working for the "Detroit Newspapers" distribution arm, went on strike. Approximately half of the staffers crossed the picket line before the unions ended their strike in February 1997. The strike was resolved in court three years later, with the journalists' union losing its unfair labor practices case on appeal. Still, the weakened unions remain active at the paper, representing a majority of the employees under their jurisdiction. August 3, 2005, Gannett announced that it would sell ''The News'' to

MediaNews Group MNG Enterprises, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns ove ...

and purchase the ''Free Press'' from the

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bra ...

company. With this move, Gannett became the managing partner in the papers' joint operating agreement. On May 7, 2006, the combined Sunday ''Detroit News and Free Press'' was replaced by a stand-alone Sunday ''Free Press''. On December 16, 2008, Detroit Media Partnership announced a plan to limit weekday home delivery for both dailies to Thursday and Friday only. On other weekdays the paper sold at newsstands would be smaller, about 32 pages, and redesigned. This arrangement went into effect on March 30, 2009. Detroit News Building

In February 2014, the DMP announced its offices along with those of ''The News'' and the ''Free Press'' would move from the West Lafayette building to six floors in both the old and new sections of the former

Federal Reserve building The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building houses the main offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve#Board of Governors, Board of Governors of the United States' Federal Reserve System. It is located at the intersection ...

at 160 West Fort Street. The partnership expected to place signs on the exterior similar to those on the former offices. The move took place October 24–27, 2014. Editorially, ''The News'' is considered more

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

than the ''Free Press.'' However, it considers itself

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

. In an editorial statement printed in 1958, ''The News'' described itself as consistently conservative on economic issues and consistently liberal on civil liberties issues. It has never endorsed a Democrat for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, and has only failed to endorse a Republican presidential candidate five times: twice during the Franklin D. Roosevelt era; in 2004, when it did not endorse George W. Bush for re-election; in 2016, when it endorsed Libertarian Party nominee

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

rather than Republican nominee

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, and in 2020, when it continued to withhold its endorsement from Trump and did not endorse a candidate.

Staff

The staff of ''The Detroit News'' includes columnists Nolan Finley, Ingrid Jacques, Bankole Thompson; design writer Maureen Feighan; food critic Melody Baetens; sports columnists Bob Wojnowski and John Niyo; sportswriters Angelique Chengelis, Tony Paul, Justin Rogers, Chris McCosky, Mike Curtis, Rod Beard, David Goricki, Matt Charboneau, Nolan Bianchi, Ted Kulfan and James Hawkins; auto critic Henry Payne and business columnist

Daniel Howes Daniel Howes is business columnist and associate business editor of '' The Detroit News''. He graduated from the College of Wooster in 1983, and from Columbia University with a master's in international affairs. From 1999 to 2003, he was European ...

. The staff also includes metro reporter Robert Snell, who was named Michigan Journalist of the Year in 2014, 2018, and 2020 by the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Former staff

* Jack Berry, sportswriter from 1971 to 1993

Awards

*2017

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

Christine MacDonald *1994 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting Eric Freedman and Jim Mitzelfeld *1982

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalis ...

The Detroit News *1977 Penney-Missouri Award for General Excellence. *1942

Pulitzer Prize for Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Photography was one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It was inaugurated in 1942 and replaced by two photojournalism prizes in 1968: the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and "Pulitzer Pri ...

Milton Brooks (the first winner of a photojournalism Pulitzer)

References

External links