The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') 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 ...

published in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

Cox Automotive Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Media Group, ...

, and Ohio Newspapers (including the ''Dayton Daily News'', ''Springfield News-Sun'' and the ''Journal-News'' papers).

Headquarters

The ''Dayton Daily News'' has its headquarters in the Manhattan Building in downtown Dayton, 601 E. Third St. The newspaper's editorial and business offices were moved there in January, 2022. For more than 100 years the paper's editorial offices and printing presses were located in downtown Dayton. From 1999 to 2017, the paper was printed at the Print Technology Center near Interstate 75 in Franklin about 15 minutes to the south. In 2017, the ''Dayton Daily News''s parent company came to an agreement with

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

for the paper to be printed at Gannett's facility in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. This resulted in the closure of the Franklin facility. Ohio Newspapers also publishes two other daily newspapers and websites in Southwest Ohio: ''

Journal-News The ''Journal-News'' is a daily newspaper published by Cox Enterprises in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. It formed in 2013 from the merger of the '' Hamilton JournalNews'' in Hamilton and '' The Middletown Journal'' in ...

'' (formerly ''

The Middletown Journal ''The Middletown Journal'' was a morning newspaper published in Middletown, Ohio, United States seven days a week by Cox Media Group. The paper was printed at Cox's plant in Franklin, Ohio, and distributed in Butler and Warren Counties. In Sept ...

'' and ''

Hamilton JournalNews ''Hamilton JournalNews'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Hamilton, Ohio, and owned by Cox Media Group. The paper covered news in Hamilton and outlying areas. In September 2013, Cox Media Group Ohio announced that, effective November 1, t ...

'') and the ''

Springfield News-Sun The ''Springfield News-Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Springfield, Ohio, by Cox Enterprises, which also publishes the ''Dayton Daily News''. Both newspapers contain similar editorial content, but tailor their local news coverage to the a ...

''. Cox First Media also publishes weekly papers ''Today's Pulse'' and ''Oxford Press'', and had published several other weekly papers until CMG Ohio ceased their operations in January 2013, including ''

The Western Star (Ohio) ''The Western Star'' was a weekly newspaper published for 206 years, from February 13, 1807, to January 17, 2013. It had been the oldest weekly newspaper in Ohio, second oldest of any sort in Ohio after the daily ''Chillicothe Gazette'', and the o ...

'', formerly the oldest weekly paper published in the state, the ''

Pulse-Journal ''Journal-News Pulse'' is a defunct weekly newspaper that was last published by Cox Media Group in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. It began publishing in the 1960s in Mason and was known as ''The Pulse-Journal'' for most of ...

'' (Mason-Deerfield Township and West Chester-Liberty Township editions) and the ''

Fairfield Echo The ''Fairfield Echo'' was a weekly broadsheet newspaper founded in Fairfield, Ohio. It was owned by Cox Enterprises until the company ceased publication of the ''Echo'' in January, 2013. The paper covered Fairfield and Fairfield Township, Butler C ...

''.

Merger

In late 2010, Cox Enterprises merged all of its local media holdings under the CMG Ohio brand and consolidated locations to The Media Center. In early 2020, the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

purchased Cox Enterprises' radio and TV properties and all Cox Media Group Ohio media entities. In March 2020, Cox Enterprises took back ownership of Ohio Newspapers, which included the ''Dayton Daily News'', ''Journal-News'', ''Springfield News-Sun'', Dayton.com, and related digital brands. As a group they operate under the brand Cox First Media.

History

On August 15, 1898,

James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the Unite ...

purchased the ''Dayton Evening News''. One week later, on August 22, 1898, he renamed it the ''Dayton Daily News''. In 2023, the Dayton Daily News celebrated 125 years in business. The paper was founded with the intention of pioneering a new type of journalism, keeping weak ties to politicians and advertisers while seeking objectivity and public advocacy as primary functions. These goals pushed the paper in the direction of valuing the public interest. A Sunday edition was launched on November 2, 1913. In 1948, Cox purchased two morning papers, ''The Journal'' and ''The Herald'', from the Herrick-Kumler Company. The next year he combined them to form ''The Journal-Herald''. For the next four decades, ''The Journal-Herald'' was the conservative morning paper, and the ''Dayton Daily News'' (which had a larger circulation) was the liberal evening paper. The papers operated newsrooms on separate floors of the same

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

in downtown Dayton. On September 15, 1986, ''The Journal-Herald'' and the ''Daily News'' were merged to become a morning paper, the ''Dayton Daily News and Journal-Herald'', with both names appearing on the front page. The ''Journal-Herald'' name last appeared on the paper's front-page flag on December 31, 1987. Cox was the Democratic Party's candidate for

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

in the election of 1920, and the city of Dayton has voted for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections ever since. Cox's running mate for vice president was

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, who was elected president in 1932.

Recent operations

The paper was led by Jeff Bruce as editor from 1998 to 2008. Bruce replaced Max Jennings, who retired. When Bruce retired in 2007 Kevin Riley, 44, a graduate of the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

, was named editor. Riley spent most of his career with the paper, starting as a copy editor and later serving as sports editor, Internet general manager, and publisher of the ''

'' in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

. He was promoted from deputy editor. In 2010, Riley was named editor of the ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' and that paper's editor, Julia Wallace, under whose leadership the AJC won Pulitzer Prizes in 2006 and 2007, moved to Dayton to become Senior Vice President of news and programming for CMG Ohio heading a new combined newspaper, television and radio newsroom. She was soon after named the first female publisher and retired in 2016. In 2011, Jana Collier was promoted from managing editor to editor-in-chief of CMG Ohio and was responsible for content and operations for all daily and weekly papers. Collier is also the first woman to be editor-in-chief of the Dayton Cox newspaper organization. In March 2020, Jana Collier was named publisher of the newly formed Ohio Newspapers brand. Upon her retirement at the end of 2022, Suzanne Klopfenstein was named the new publisher and assumed her role in the beginning of 2023. Klopfenstein has 30 years of media experience, including serving as the senior director of sales for Cox First Media. Ashley Bethard became editor and chief content officer in January, 2022. On March 5, 2023, the newspaper announced that, due to cost issues, starting on May 6, it would no longer produce printed newspapers on Saturdays. Digital products, including its

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

(branded as ePaper which is available online or in the company's app), would continue to be published on Saturdays .

Notable employees

In 1998, reporters

Russell Carollo Russell John Carollo (March 16, 1955 – December 19, 2018) was an American Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, who worked as an investigative reporter for numerous publications, including the ''Dayton Daily News'', the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...

and

Jeff Nesmith Hollis Jefferson Nesmith Jr. (June 28, 1940 – January 13, 2023) was an American journalist and author. During his time at the ''Dayton Daily News'', he won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with Russell Carollo for uncovering mism ...

won the

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 ...

for their reporting on dangerous flaws and mismanagement in the military health care system, a series very relevant to its readership because of the presence of

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...

in neighboring Greene County. The paper is the home of cartoonist Mike Peters, who draws the ''

Mother Goose and Grimm ''Mother Goose and Grimm'' (a.k.a. ''Mother Goose & Grimm'') is an internationally syndicated comic strip by cartoonist Mike Peters of the '' Dayton Daily News''. It was first syndicated starting October 1, 1984, and is distributed by King Fea ...

'' strip and won 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 ...

in 1981, and columnist Dale Huffman, who had written a daily metro column every day for more than eight years before beginning a hiatus on January 30, 2008, after he was diagnosed with

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...

. The following people at some point worked at or wrote for the ''Dayton Daily News'': *

Erma Bombeck Erma Louise Bombeck (''née'' Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. Fifteen books of her hum ...

(at ''The Journal-Herald'') * Millie Bingham * Si Burick * Ritter Collett (at ''The Journal-Herald'') * Charlotte Reeve Conover *

Bob Englehart Bob Englehart (born 1945) is a retired American editorial cartoonist for the ''Hartford Courant''. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1979. Biography Born on November 7, 1945, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Englehart dropped out of the American Ac ...

(at ''The Journal-Herald'') *

Clem Hamilton Clem may refer to: Places *Clem, Oregon, United States, an unincorporated community *Clem, West Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community * Clem Nunatak, a nunatak in the Ross Dependency, Antarctica Other uses * Clem (hill), a categor ...

Ann Heller
*

Marj Heyduck Marjorie Irene Evers "Marj" Heyduck (1913–1969) was a reporter, columnist and editor for the ''Dayton Herald'', ''Dayton Press'', ''Dayton Journal'', ''Dayton Journal-Herald'', and ''Dayton Daily News'' from 1936 to 1969. She also hosted a ra ...

(at ''The Journal-Herald'') *Dale Huffman * Hal McCoy *

* Mike Peters * Tom Archdeacon *

John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been n ...

Myron Scott Myron E. Scott (September 16, 1907 – October 4, 1998) was the creator of the All-American Soap Box Derby. He is also credited with naming Chevrolet's sports car, the Corvette.

Jon Talton Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given". The name is spelled Jón in Iceland and on the Faroe Islands. In the Nordic countries, it is derived from Johannes. Notable people * Jon Aaraas (born 1986) ...

Jim Zofkie Jim or JIM may refer to: Names * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy People and horses * Jim, the nickname of Yelkanum Seclamatan (died April 1911), Nat ...

Charley Stough III Charley may refer to: Places *Charley, Leicestershire, a parish in England *Charley's Flat, alternate name for Dutch Flat, California *Charley's Motel, former name of Star Lite Motel, Minnesota, United States *Charley Ridge, West Virginia, United ...

Dann Stupp Dann Stupp (born in Springfield, Ohio; September 14, 1978) is an American sports editor and author who co-founded the popular mixed martial arts website MMAjunkie, MMAJunkie.com, which USA Today acquired in 2011. He is currently senior sports edi ...

Clara Weisenborn Clara E. Weisenborn (February 9, 1907 – January 26, 1985) was a Republican Ohio politician who served in the Ohio General Assembly. Born in Dayton, Weisenborn was a journalist by trade for the '' Journal Herald'', a prominent Dayton newspaper ...

(at ''The Journal-Herald'') *

Roz Young Rosamond McPherson "Roz" Young (October 4, 1912 – September 18, 2005) was an author, educator, historian, and for more than 25 years a "beloved" columnist for ''The Dayton Daily News'' and, prior to that, ''The Journal Herald'' in Dayton, Ohi ...

(also at ''The Journal-Herald'') In 1988, ''Daily News'' publisher

Dennis Shere Dennis Shere is an American author, journalist and lawyer. Shere has written two books: ''Cain's Redemption'', a biography about Warden Burl Cain of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, and ''The Last Meal — Defending an Accused Mass Mu ...

was fired by

Cox Newspapers CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company prim ...

because he rejected a health lecture advertisement by

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

groups. Shere cited his "Christian perspective" in declining to print the ad. The

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

subsequently passed a resolution calling on "all

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

to refuse advertising that promotes homosexuality or any other lifestyle that is destructive to the family". The resolution said Shere was fired for his "commitment to defend traditional moral and

family values Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. Additionally, the concept of family values may be understood ...

". The company responded that it was defending

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

for all people, saying "We cannot compromise on the constitutional issue of equal access to

the press ''The Press'' () is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday t ...

References

Bibliography

*''Dayton Ink''. Dayton, Ohio: The Dayton Daily News, 1998. *

External links

Official siteOfficial mobile site
{{COX Cox Newspapers Newspapers published in Dayton, Ohio 1898 establishments in Ohio Newspapers established in 1898