The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is the highest circulation newspaper in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. It is owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.''USA Today'' Network". According to the ''1999

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the newspaper industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry." Originally based in New York City, ...

International Yearbook'', the paper is the 48th-largest daily paper in the United States.

History

Origins

''The Courier-Journal'' was created from the merger of several newspapers introduced in

in the 19th century. A pioneer paper called ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature'' was founded in 1826 in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

when the city was an early settlement of less than 7,000 individuals. In 1830 a new newspaper, ''The Louisville Daily Journal'', began distribution in the city and, in 1832, the ''Journal'' absorbed ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature''. The Louisville ''Journal'' was an organ of the Whig Party and was founded and edited by

George D. Prentice George Dennison Prentice (December 18, 1802 – January 22, 1870) was an American newspaper editor, writer and poet who built the ''Louisville Journal'' into a major newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Ohio River Valley, in part by the vir ...

, a New Englander who initially came to Kentucky to write a biography of

Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seven ...

. Prentice would proceed to edit the ''Journal'' for more than 40 years. In 1844, another newspaper, the ''Louisville Morning Courier'', was founded in Louisville by

Walter Newman Haldeman Walter Newman Haldeman (April 27, 1821 – May 14, 1902) was an American newspaper publisher, owner, and businessman from Louisville, Kentucky, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the founder of the ''Louisville Courier'', which would la ...

. ''The Louisville Daily Journal'' and the ''Louisville Morning Courier'' were leading newspapers in

and were politically opposed throughout the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

; ''The Journal'' was against slavery while the ''Courier'' was pro-Confederacy. The ''Courier'' was suppressed by the Union and had to move to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, but it returned to Louisville after the war. Upon the announcement of the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War, Civil War. The Proclamation c ...

that ended slavery in the Confederate states, the ''Journal'' opposed the Proclamation as an unconstitutional use of presidential power, and predicted: "Kentucky cannot and will not acquiesce in this measure. Never!" In 1868, an ailing Prentice persuaded the 28-year-old Henry Watterson to come edit for the ''Journal''. During secret negotiations in 1868, ''The Journal'' and the ''Courier'' merged, and the first edition of ''The Courier-Journal'' was delivered to Louisvillians on Sunday morning, November 8, 1868.

Watterson era

Henry Watterson, the son of a Tennessee congressman, had written for ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'' and ''The'' ''New York Times'' before enlisting in the Confederate Army. He became nationally known for his work as ''The Courier-Journal'' emerged as the region's leading paper. He supported the Democratic Party and pushed for the industrialization of Kentucky and the South in general, notably through urging the

Southern Exposition The Southern Exposition was a five-year series of world's fairs held in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, from 1883 to 1887 in what is now Louisville's Old Louisville neighborhood. The exposition, held for 100 days each year on immediately south ...

be held in Louisville. He attracted controversy for attempting to prove that

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon t ...

had actually written the works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. He won a

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 ...

in 1917 for editorials demanding the United States enter

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. ''The Courier-Journal'' founded a companion afternoon edition of the paper, ''

The Louisville Times ''The Louisville Times'' was a newspaper that was published in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1884 by Walter N. Haldeman, as the afternoon counterpart to ''The Courier-Journal'', the dominant morning newspaper in Louisville and the commo ...

'', in May 1884. In 1896, Watterson and Haldeman opposed Democratic presidential candidate

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...

over his support of

free silver Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th-century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adhe ...

coinage. This unpopular decision upset readers and advertisers, many of whom pulled their support for ''The Courier-Journal''. Kentucky voted for the Republican candidate in 1896, the first time in state history, and local political leaders blamed the Courier. Only the popularity of ''The Louisville Times'', which had no strong editorial reputation, saved the newspaper company from bankruptcy. The ''Courier'' supported Bryan in future elections. Haldeman had owned the papers until his death in 1902, and by 1917 they were owned by his son, William, and Henry Watterson.

Bingham ownership

Courier-Journal offices in downtown Louisville

On August 8, 1918, Robert Worth Bingham purchased two-thirds interest in the newspapers and acquired the remaining stock in 1920. The liberal Bingham clashed with longtime editor Watterson, who remained on board, but was in the twilight of his career. Watterson's editorials opposing the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

appeared alongside Bingham's favoring it, and Watterson finally retired on April 2, 1919. As publisher, Bingham set the tone for his editorial pages, and pushed for improved public education, support of African Americans and the poor of

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...

. In 1933, the newspapers passed to his son, Barry Bingham, Sr. Barry Bingham would continue in his father's footsteps, guiding the editorial page and modernizing the paper by setting up several news bureaus throughout the state, expanding the news staff. During Barry Bingham, Sr.'s tenure, the paper was considered Kentucky's "Newspaper of Record" and consistently ranked among the 10 best in the nation. In 1971,

Barry Bingham, Jr. George Barry Bingham Jr. (September 23, 1933 – April 3, 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky) was an American newspaper publisher and television and radio executive. He was the third and last generation of the Bingham family that controlled Louisville' ...

succeeded his father as the newspapers' editor and publisher. The Binghams were well-liked owners popularly credited with being more concerned with publishing quality journalism than making heavy profits. They also owned the leading local radio and television stations – WHAS-TV,

WHAS-AM WHAS (840 AM) is a radio station owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed to Louisville, Kentucky. Its studios are located in the Louisville enclave of Watterson Park, and the transmitter site is in Long Run, in far east Jefferson County. First ...

, and WAMZ-FM—and

Standard Gravure Standard Gravure was a Louisville, Kentucky rotogravure printing company founded in 1922 by Robert Worth Bingham and owned by the powerful Bingham family. For decades, it printed the weekly '' The Courier-Journal Magazine'' as well as rotogravure s ...

, a rotogravure printing company that printed ''The Courier-Journal'' Sunday ''Magazine'' as well as similar magazines for other newspapers. Barry Bingham Jr. sought to free the papers from conflicts of interests, and through ''The Louisville Times'', experimented with new ideas such as signed editorials. Bingham Jr. also parted with tradition by endorsing several Republican candidates for office. In 1974, Carol Sutton became managing editor of ''The Courier-Journal'', the first woman appointed to such a post at a major US daily newspaper. Under the leadership of C. Thomas Hardin, director of photography, the combined photography staff of ''The Courier-Journal and Louisville Times'' was awarded the 1976

Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of feature photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or phot ...

for its coverage of school desegregation in Louisville.

served as editor and publisher until he resigned in 1986, shortly after his father announced that the newspaper company was for sale, in large measure because of disagreements between Bingham Jr. and his sister Sallie.

Gannett ownership

On January 8, 1986, Barry Bingham Sr. announced his intent to sell the family owned media properties including the Courier-Journal. In July 1986, Gannett Company, Inc. purchased the newspaper company for $300 million, outbidding

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

and the

Tribune company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

. Gannett appointed George N. Gill President and Publisher who had been with the newspaper and the Binghams for over two decades. Gill worked his way up from copy editor to Chief Executive Officer of the Bingham Companies. In 1993, Gill retired and Edward E. Manassah became President and Publisher. February 1987 saw the last publication of ''

'', which like most afternoon papers had experienced declining readership; the news operations of the two papers had previously been consolidated under Gannett. The surviving Courier featured a strong news content increase by 29%. In 1989, the paper's news staff won the Pulitzer Prize for general local reporting for what the Pulitzer board called "exemplary initial coverage" of a collision that was the nation's worst drunk-driving crash and school-bus accident. In 2005, cartoonist Nick Anderson won the paper's 10th Pulitzer, but when he left for the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', the paper did not replace him, instead relying largely on submissions from local cartoonists. One, lawyer Marc Murphy, has become a near-regular and gained respect for his work. The newspaper resumed polling on elections, and began video streaming its editorial-board conferences with major candidates, under Publisher Arnold "Arnie" Garson, who came from the Argus Leader, Gannett's paper in Sioux Falls, S.D., in late 2008. Garson is an outspoken promoter of the future of printed newspapers in the digital age. Under him, the paper began keeping occasional major stories or sports columns off its website and promoting them as print exclusives. Most of these have run on Sundays; in July 2009, Garson announced that the paper's Sunday home-delivery circulation was up 0.5 percent over the previous year.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize

Other notable staff

Herbert Agar Herbert Sebastian Agar (29 September 1897 – 24 November 1980) was an American journalist and historian, and an editor of the '' Louisville Courier-Journal''. Early life Herbert Sebastian Agar was born September 29, 1897 in New Rochelle, New Yor ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' editor *

Adele Brandeis Adele Brandeis (1885–1975) was an American art administrator from Louisville, Kentucky. Work In 1911, Brandeis presented a paper on "The Development of Art in Cincinnati" to the Women's Club of Louisville, where she highlighted the crucial ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' writer and arts administrator *

Samuel C. Brightman Samuel C. Brightman (1911–1992) was a journalist, war correspondent, freelance writer and adult educator. Brightman started his career with the Louisville (KY) ''Courier-Journal'' covering education and politics and eventually becoming their Was ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter and Washington correspondent *

Grady Clay Grady Edward Clay Jr (November 5, 1916 – March 17, 2013) was an American journalist and urbanist specializing in landscape architecture and urban planning. In 1962, the American Institute of Architects said of Clay: "The editor of ''Landscap ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' urban affairs editor *

Byron Crawford Byron Garrison Crawford is a former television journalist and newspaper columnist from Louisville, Kentucky. Crawford is best known for a continuing series of reports on WHAS-TV titled "On the Road," somewhat of a localized version of the series ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' columnist * Joe Creason, ''Courier-Journal'' columnist, known for "Joe Creason's Kentucky" column * Howard Fineman, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter and Washington correspondent * Pat Forde, ''Courier-Journal'' sports columnist * Michael Gartner, ''Courier-Journal'' editor *

Kate Harrington Kate Harrington (December 8, 1902 – November 23, 1978) was an American television and movie actress. Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, Harrington studied dramatics at the Bush Conservatory in Chicago. Three years later she was given her firs ...

, ''Louisville Journal'' reporter *

Hugh Haynie Hugh Smith Haynie (February 6, 1927 – November 30, 1999) was an American political cartoonist. Life Haynie was born in Reedville, Virginia. He studied at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and at the University of Louisville in K ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' political cartoonist *

Paul Janensch Carl Paul Janensch, Jr. (born November 26, 1938) is the former executive editor of ''The Courier-Journal'', based in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also co-author of a play that has had several stagings. Since 2009 Janensch has been a professor em ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' executive editor * Mike King, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter, editor, Washington correspondent, and medical writer *

Alan Levy Alan Levy (10 February 1932 – 2 April 2004) was an American author. Life Alan Levy was born in New York City in 1932 and educated at Brown and Columbia universities. In 1952 at Brown, he co-wrote an original Brownbrokers musical titled ''An ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter *

Ronni Lundy Ronni Lundy (born 1949) is an author and editor in the U.S. whose work focuses on traditional American foods and music. Her books include ''Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of Southern Country Kitchens'' (Atla ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' and ''Louisville Times'' pop music editor * Priscilla Robertson, ''Courier-Journal'' literary editor *

Harvey Magee Watterson Harvey Magee Watterson (November 23, 1811 – October 1, 1891) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician. Watterson was what his only child Henry later described as an "undoubting Democrat of the schools of Jefferson and Jac ...

, ''Courier-Journal'' editorial staff, father of the paper's founder

References

External links

*
Gannett subsidiary profile of ''The Courier-Journal''
(archived from November 26, 2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Courier-Journal, The Publications established in 1868 Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers 1868 establishments in Kentucky Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Gannett publications