The ''Daily Breeze'' is a 57,000-circulation 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 ...
published in
Hermosa Beach, California, United States. It serves the
South Bay cities of
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
. Its slogan is "LAX to LA Harbor".
Early history
The paper was founded as the weekly ''The Breeze'' in 1894 by local political
activist
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
S. D. Barkley and first served the local
Redondo Beach community. Coverage eventually spread to other coastal cities, and by 1922, it had become a daily publication. In 1928, the ''Daily Breeze'' was purchased by
Copley Press. The competition went out of business in 1970 (The ''Torrance Herald'', 1913–1969).
Modern history
Like most of the newspaper industry, the ''Daily Breeze'' has suffered its share of hardships, with the rise of free news on the Internet and the competitive Los Angeles media market. It merged with the (San Pedro) ''News-Pilot'' in 1999.
In 2005, it added to its circulation numbers through the purchase of two local weeklies, ''
The Beach Reporter'' and ''Palos Verdes Peninsula News''. In 2003, it created another weekly, ''More San Pedro'', in the Harbor Area.
In December 2006, the paper was sold to the
Hearst Corporation in a complex transaction that left the paper under the day-to-day control of Dean Singleton's
MediaNews Group
MNG Enterprises, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado, United States–based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. As of May 2021, it owns over 100 newspapers and 200 ass ...
and its subsidiary, the
Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG). Singleton announced that he would fold the paper into the LANG operations, but not cut salaries. Singleton will eventually come to own the ''Daily Breeze'' under a 2007 plan to acquire ownership of the paper as part of a swap with Hearst in which Hearst would trade some California papers and the ''
St. Paul Pioneer Press'' for an increased stake in Singleton's non-California operations.
In 2008, the paper ceased producing its weekly supplement, ''More San Pedro''. Nine staff members were laid off at the same time including four reporters, a web editor, and a newsroom assistant.
In 2015, the ''Daily Breeze'' won two major awards for its series of investigative reports, throughout 2014, regarding a financial scandal in the
Centinela Valley Union High School District. In March, the paper won a
Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Community Journalism for the investigation, and in April the
Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.
In popular culture
The film
''Pineapple Express'' and television show
''Zeke & Luther'' have filmed at the ''Daily Breezes previous headquarters location in Torrance, California.
References
Further reading
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{{Digital First Media
Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles
Mass media in Torrance, California
MediaNews Group publications
Manhattan Beach, California
Newspapers established in 1894
1894 establishments in California
Newspapers published in California
Copley Press publications
Digital First Media