The ''Bristol Herald Courier'' is a daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
owned by
Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...
. The newspaper is located in
Bristol, Virginia
Bristol is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,219. It is the Twin cities (geographical proxi ...
, a small city located in
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all V ...
on the
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
border.
The ''Herald Courier'' is in what the media industry calls a
converged newsroom, meaning its online
heraldcourier.com print (''Herald Courier'') and broadcast (
WJHL-Johnson City) operations work together closely. ''Herald Courier'' reporters are trained to occasionally deliver webcasts of Bristol news, conduct TV "talk-backs" with WJHL and gather audio for daily stories. News Channel 11 reporters often have bylined stories that appear in the ''Herald Courier'' news pages. Under Media General, both operations provided content for
TriCities.com, a Media General's Digital Media Department subsidiary. The future of the website is said to be up in the air.
In 2010, the ''Herald Courier'' won the
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 journali ...
, the highest honor in American journalism, for "illuminating the murky mismanagement of natural-gas royalties owed to thousands of land owners in southwest Virginia, spurring remedial action by state lawmakers."
History
The beginning of the present ''Bristol Herald Courier'' came in August 1865. That was when John Slack founded the ''Bristol News.'' This publication continued until after the turn of the century. In 1870, Slack launched the ''Bristol Courier'', a weekly which became Bristol's first daily paper in 1888.
George L. Carter, founder of the Clinchfield Railroad, moved to Bristol in 1903 and founded the ''Bristol Herald''. When Carter left Bristol in 1907 the ''Herald'' was combined with the ''Courier'' and became the ''Bristol Herald Courier''.
The 1934
Carter Family
The Carter Family was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, c ...
song "It'll Aggravate Your Soul" mentions the newspaper.
On October 16, 1949, T. Eugene Worrell and a number of the city's leading businessmen launched the ''Bristol Virginia-Tennessean'', first published in direct competition with the ''Herald Courier'' and the evening ''News Bulletin''. After many months of intense rivalry, the ''Herald Courier'' and ''Virginia-Tennessean'' joined in a printing agreement allowing both to carry on competitively in news and editorial fields while enjoying economies afforded by joint operations.
In 1986, after 36 years of home deliveries, the ''Bristol Virginia-Tennessean'' succumbed to the trend of dying afternoon newspapers and was combined with the morning editions of the ''Bristol Herald Courier''. The combined morning publication with three editions covered and circulated in nine Southwest Virginia counties, Upper East Tennessee and the City of Bristol.
January 1, 1998 marked the sale of the ''Bristol Herald Courier ''to Media General. It was sold to
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...
in 2012.
Under the new ownership of Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol Herald Courier has rebranded its online presence moving from "tricities.com" to "heraldcourier.com". The newspaper now operates only in print and online, and is no longer affiliated with the TV station WJHL.
Starting June 27, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper will transition from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
Newsroom staff
The ''Bristol Herald Courier'' is located at 320 Bob Morrison Blvd in Bristol, Va. The ''BHC'' is the dominant news source for the Bristol and Southwest Virginia region and in 2008 and 2009 won five national journalism awards, including four from the Associated Press Sports Editors and one from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. The paper was a 2007 national finalist for online convergence by the Associated Press Managing Editors. In 2018, it was chosen as one of three finalists for the 2017 annual award in the
Scripps Howard Foundation
The Scripps Howard Fund is a public charity that supports philanthropic causes important to the E. W. Scripps Company, an American media conglomerate which owns television stations, cable television networks, and other media outlets. The Fund's m ...
's Community Journalism category, for its feature, “Addicted at Birth.” It won the Scripps Howard Community Journalism award. The judges' comments included: "The newspaper, with a circulation of 16,500, investigated the problem from all angles, outlined solutions and educated the community. The impact is wide-ranging for taxpayers, hospitals, families and schools." "It not only reported what's happening but foreshadowed what the community could face in the future."
Scripps Howard Awards announce winners of top prizes, $170,000 in prize money
''PR Newswire
PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...
'', March 6, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
References
External links
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{{authority control
Herald Courier
A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms.
Heralds were originally courier, messengers sent by monarchs or nobl ...
Daily newspapers published in Virginia
Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers
Newspapers established in 1865
1865 establishments in Virginia
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners
Lee Enterprises publications