''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based

Economist Group The Economist Newspaper Limited (commonly The Economist Group) is a British media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, ''1843 (magazine), 1843'' ...

and combined with ''

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of c ...

'' to form CQ Roll Call in 2009.

History

20th century

''CQ'' was founded in 1945 by

Nelson Poynter Nelson Poynter (1903–1978) was an American publisher and media proprietor. He was the owner of the Times Publishing Company, and the co-founder of the ''Congressional Quarterly''. He is the namesake of the Poynter Institute. Early life Poynter ...

and his wife, Henrietta Poynter, to provide a link between local

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 ...

s and the complex politics within

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Thomas N. Schroth, managing editor of the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'', was elected in October 1955 as executive editor and vice president. Schroth built the publication's impartial coverage, with annual revenue growth from $150,000 when he started to $1.8 million. In addition to adding a book division, Schroth added many staff members who achieved future journalistic success, including

David S. Broder David Salzer Broder (September 11, 1929 – March 9, 2011) was an American journalist, writing for ''The Washington Post'' for over 40 years. He was also an author, television news show pundit, and university lecturer. For more than half a ce ...

, Neal R. Peirce, and

Elizabeth Drew Elizabeth Drew (born November 16, 1935) is an American political journalist and author. Early life Elizabeth Jane Brenner was born on November 16, 1935, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the daughter of William J. Brenner, a furniture manufacturer, a ...

. He was fired from ''Congressional Quarterly'' in 1969 after festering disagreements with Poynter over editorial policy at the publication, and Schroth's efforts to advocate "more imaginative ways of doing things" reached a boil. In 1965, Poynter summed up his reasons for founding ''CQ'': "The federal government will never set up an adequate agency to check on itself, and a foundation is too timid for that. So it had to be a private enterprise beholden to its clients." Despite its name, ''CQ'' was published quarterly for only one year. Demand drove more frequent updates, first weekly, then daily. ''CQ'' was also an early leader in delivering information on a real-time basis, starting with a

dial-up Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...

service in 1984. Its website dominates the online legislative tracking information market and has been nominated for several awards. ''CQ'' has since launched several web-only newsletters with a greater focus on particular areas, including ''CQ Homeland Security'', ''CQ BudgetTracker'', and ''CQ HealthBeat''.

21st century

In 2005, ''CQ'''s flagship publication, the ''Weekly Report'', was relaunched as ''CQ Weekly'' with a wider focus, including "government, commerce, and politics." A daily publication, ''CQ Today'', also is available every day when Congress is in session. ''CQ Today''s main print competition is Atlantic Media's ''CongressDaily''. In May 2008, ''

CQ Press CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publishing, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication. History Nelso ...

'' was purchased by

SAGE Publishing Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American Independent business, independent Academic publishing, academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park, California, ...

. Although it retains the name "CQ Press" (a trademark of Congressional Quarterly), CQ Press is no longer an affiliate of Congressional Quarterly. Until 2009, ''CQ'' was owned by the

Times Publishing Company Times Publishing Company is a newspaper and magazine publisher. Its flagship publication is the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (formerly the ''St. Petersburg Times''), a daily newspaper serving the Tampa Bay area. It also publishes the business magazine '' Fl ...

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

, publisher of the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' and other publications. The Times Publishing Company is, in turn, owned by the

Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...

, a school for journalists founded by Nelson Poynter.

The Economist Group The Economist Newspaper Limited (commonly The Economist Group) is a British media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, ''1843''. The Economist G ...

acquired ''CQ'' in 2009 and combined it with ''

''; the terms of the deal were not disclosed. In July 2018, a deal was announced for CQ Roll Call to be acquired by

FiscalNote FiscalNote Holdings, Inc., or commonly FiscalNote, is a publicly traded software, data, and media company headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen in 2013. FiscalNote provides sof ...

Awards

Ten ''CQ'' reporters have won the "Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress" from the

National Press Foundation The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism training organization. It educates journalists on complex issues and trains them in reporting tools and techniques. It recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards. ...

Alan Ehrenhalt Alan Ehrenhalt is an American journalist and non-fiction author. Early life Alan Ehrenhalt graduated from Brandeis University in 1968. He received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Career Ehrenhalt is ...

in 1983, Joan Biskupic in 1991, Janet Hook in 1992, George Hager in 1996, Jackie Koszczuk in 1997, Sue Kirchhoff in 2000, John Cochran in 2003, Jonathan Allen in 2008, Matt Fuller in 2015 and John M. Donnelly in 2018.

References

External links

CQ Roll Call corporate website
{{Authority control Legislative branch of the United States government Online databases Newspapers published in Washington, D.C. American companies established in 1945 Publishing companies established in 1945 1945 establishments in Washington, D.C. Economist Group 20th-century encyclopedias