''The Buffalo News'' is the 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 ...

of the

Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area The Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area, designated by the United States Census Bureau, encompassing two counties - Erie and Niagara - in the state of New York. It is the second-largest metropolit ...

, located in downtown

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's

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 ...

. On January 29, 2020, the paper reported that it was being sold to

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 ...

History

''The Buffalo News'' was founded as a Sunday paper with the name ''The Buffalo Sunday Morning News'' in 1873 by Edward Hubert Butler, Sr.Frequently Asked Questions
, www.buffalonews.com On October 11, 1880, it began publishing daily editions as well, and in 1914, it became an inversion of its original existence by publishing Monday to Saturday, with no publication on Sunday. During most of its life, the ''News'' was known as ''The Buffalo Evening News''. A gentleman's agreement between the ''Evening News'' and the ''

Buffalo Courier-Express The ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' was a morning newspaper in Buffalo, New York. It ceased publication on September 19, 1982. History The ''Courier-Express'' was created in 1926 by a merger of the ''Buffalo Daily Courier'' and the ''Buffalo Morni ...

'' meant that the ''Evening News'' would be evening-only, and the ''Courier-Express'' would be morning-only. Until 1977, the ''News'' did not publish on Sundays because of the agreement, and its weekend edition appeared on Saturday evening. The Butler family owned the ''Evening News'' until 1974, when longtime owner and publisher Katherine Butler, granddaughter of the founder, died and left no heirs. The ''Evening News'' properties were placed in a blind trust, which sold the ''Evening News'' to

in 1977. The new owners began publishing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. After a period of financial decline, the ''Courier-Express'' published its last issue on September 19, 1982. The ''Evening News'' then shortened its name to ''The Buffalo News'' and became an all-day newspaper, publishing two editions seven days a week. On October 1, 2006, the ''News'' announced it would abandon its evening edition later that month. The buffalo news building

''The Buffalo News'' had published three morning editions (Western New York, Final and Niagara) that appeared online at BuffaloNews.com, reaching over 400,000 readers, across eight counties each day. These separate editions were eliminated in 2018 and consolidated into a single Final edition, in response to a newsprint shortage. ''The News'' Designated Market Area had the largest adult population in upstate New York. Counties in total circulation area: New York - Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Steuben, Wyoming; Pennsylvania - Cameron, Erie, McKean, Potter, Warren. The newspaper founded and owned the WBEN television and radio stations, which are now

WIVB WIVB-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WNLO (channel 23). WIVB-TV and WNLO share studios on Elmwood Aven ...

(Channel 4), WBEN (930), WYRK (106.5) and WBKV (102.5), respectively. The radio stations are now owned by other companies, but in 2014, WIVB came back under partial co-ownership with the ''News'' when Buffett's

Media General Media General, Inc. was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-D ...

merged with the WIVB parent company,

LIN Media LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the six major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low-powered weather station in In ...

. The online version of ''The Buffalo News'' operates under a soft

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...

allowing a limited number of page views per week. All

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

-related content, branded as "BN Blitz", is behind a hard paywall. On January 29, 2020, the ''News'' reported it was being sold alongwith the rest of Berkshire Hathaway's newspaper portfolioto

, an Iowa-based owner of 50 newspapers that has had significant ties to Berkshire Hathaway since 2012 and had operated Berkshire Hathaway's newspapers since 2018. In September 2024, ten jobs were eliminated from the newsroom which has an estimated 55 positions.

Pulitzer Prizes

Journalists for ''The Buffalo News'' and ''The Buffalo Evening News'' have won four

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

s: * In 1958, Bruce Shanks received the

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...

for his August 10, 1957 piece, "

The Thinker ''The Thinker'' (), by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture depicting a Heroic nudity, nude male figure of heroic size, seated on a large rock, leaning forward, right elbow placed upon the left thigh, back of the right hand supporting the chin ...

", detailing union corruption. * In 1961, Edgar May received the

Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "significant issues of local or statewide concern, demonstrating originality and community connection". This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winn ...

for his series, "Our Costly Dilemma," concerning the need for reform of

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

system. The series touched off debates about welfare reform nationwide. * In 1990, Tom Toles brought the ''News'' its second Editorial Cartooning award, for his work throughout the year (although his piece "First Amendment" has been cited as the work that merited the award). * In 2015, Adam Zyglis won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning for using, in the committee's citation, "strong images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in few words". ''News'' journalists have been finalists for four other Pulitzer Prizes, but did not win: * Toles (1985 and 1996, for Editorial Cartooning) and, * James Heaney (1993, for

Investigative Reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

) and, * Staff (2015, for Breaking News Reporting).

Publishers and editors

;Publishers * Edward Hubert Butler, Sr., 1880–1914: also founder * Edward Hubert Butler Jr., 1914–1956: son of Butler Sr * James H. Righter, 1956–1971 * Kate M. Robinson Butler, 1971–1974: wife of Butler Jr * Henry Z. Urban, 1974–1983 * Stanford Lipsey, 1983–2013 * Warren T. Colville, 2013–2020 * Tom Wiley, 2020– ;Editors * Alfred H. Kirchhofer, 1956–1966 * Paul E. Neville, 1966–1969 * Murray B. Light, 1979–1999 * Margaret M. Sullivan, 1999—2012 * Michael K. Connelly, 2012–2022 * Sheila Rayam, 2022–2024 * Margaret Kenny Giancola

References

External links

* * * As of September 2022
New York State Historic Newspapers
has 1881-1905 issues of the ''Buffalo Evening News'' online for free, full-text access, with more to come. * As of October 2022,
Newspapers.com
has 1881-2022 issues of the ''Buffalo News'' online on a paid subscription basis. Some public and academic libraries offer Newspapers.com to their users. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo News 1977 mergers and acquisitions Newspapers published in Buffalo, New York Daily newspapers published in New York (state) Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Newspapers established in 1880 1880 establishments in New York (state) Lee Enterprises publications