The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major 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 ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by

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 ...

(the publisher of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''), and is operated by the

Detroit Media Partnership Detroit Media Partnership, L.P. manages the business operations - including production, advertising and circulation - for the two leading Detroit newspapers: ''The Detroit News'' and ''Detroit Free Press''. Detroit Media Partnership also handles ...

under a

joint operating agreement The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Richard Nixon, authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same media market area. It ...

with

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

, its historical rival. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press.'' The ''Free Press'' has received ten

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 and four

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

s. Its motto is "On Guard for Years". In 2018, the ''Detroit Free Press'' received two Salute to Excellence awards from the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and professional organization of African Americans, African American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 197 ...

History

1831–1989: Competitive newspaper

The newspaper was launched by John R. Williams and his uncle,

Joseph Campau Joseph Campau (February 20, 1769 – May 13, 1863) was among the leading citizens and wealthiest landowners in Detroit, Michigan, at the beginning of the 19th century. Campau had three trading posts and a store in Detroit until the early 1800s. He ...

, and was first published as the ''Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer'' on May 5, 1831. It was renamed to ''Detroit Daily Free Press'' in 1835, becoming the region's first daily newspaper. Williams printed the first issues on a Washington press he purchased from the discontinued ''Oakland Chronicle'' of

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

. It was hauled from Pontiac in a wagon over rough roads to a building at Bates and Woodbridge streets in Detroit. The hand-operated press required two men and could produce 250 pages per hour. The first issues were in size, with five columns of type. Sheldon McKnight became the first publisher, with his uncle John Pitts Sheldon as the editor. In the 1850s, the paper was developed into a leading Democratic Party-aligned publication under the ownership of

Wilbur F. Storey Wilbur Fisk Storey (December 19, 1819 – October 27, 1884) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher who was instrumental in the growth of the ''Detroit Free Press'' and the ''Chicago Times''. During the American Civil War, Storey pur ...

. Storey left for the ''

Chicago Times The ''Chicago Times'' was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895, when it merged with the ''Chicago Herald'', to become the ''Chicago Times-Herald''. The ''Times-Herald'' effectively disappeared in 1901 when it merged with the ''Chicago Recor ...

'' in 1861, taking much of the staff with him. In the 1870s ownership passed to

William E. Quinby William Emory Quinby (December 14, 1835 – June 7, 1908) was an American newspaper publisher and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands. Early life Quinby was born in Brewer, Maine, on December 14, 1835. His family ...

, who continued its Democratic leanings and established a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England edition. In 1940, the Knight Newspapers (later

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

) purchased the ''Free Press''. During the next 20 years, the ''Free Press'' competed in the southeastern Michigan market with ''

'' and the ''

Detroit Times Six different newspapers called the ''Detroit Times'' have been published in the city of Detroit; the most recent existed for six decades, from 1900 to 1960. Overview *The first iteration of the ''Detroit Times'' was an antislavery bulletin onl ...

'', until the ''Times'' was purchased and closed by the ''Detroit News'' on November 7, 1960. The ''Free Press'' was delivered and sold as a night paper, with home deliveries made after 7:00pm until around 1966. A morning "Blue Streak Edition" was available at news stands beginning around 1965, meaning the ''Free Press'' actually printed two editions per day. During that period ''The Detroit News'' was sold and delivered as an afternoon newspaper.

1989–2014: Joint operating agreement

In 1989, the paper entered into a one hundred-year

with its rival, combining business operations while maintaining separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called the

. The two papers also began to publish joint Saturday and Sunday editions, though the editorial content of each remained separate. At the time, the ''Detroit Free Press'' was the tenth-highest circulation paper in the United States, and the combined ''Detroit News and Free Press'' was the country's fourth-largest Sunday paper. On July 13, 1995,

Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practic ...

-represented employees of the ''Free Press'' and ''News'' and the pressmen, printers and Teamsters working for the "Detroit Newspapers" distribution arm went on strike. By October, about 40% of the editorial staffers had crossed the picket line, and many trickled back over the next months while others stayed out for the two and a half years of the strike. The strike was resolved in court three years later, and the unions remain active at the paper, representing a majority of the employees under their jurisdiction. News Free Press Building

In 1998, the ''Free Press'' vacated its former headquarters in downtown Detroit and moved to offices into ''The Detroit News'' building and began to operate from its new offices in that building on June 26 of that year. On August 3, 2005, Knight Ridder sold the ''Free Press'' to the

Company, which had previously owned and operated ''The Detroit News''. Gannett, in turn, sold ''The News'' to

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 ...

; Gannett continues to be the managing partner in the papers' joint operating agreement. The ''Free Press'' resumed publication of its own Sunday edition, May 7, 2006, without any content from ''The News'', other than that ''The News'' would print its editorial page in the Sunday ''Free Press''. FederalReserveBankDetroit

On December 16, 2008, Detroit Media Partnership (DMP) announced a plan to limit weekday home delivery for both dailies to Thursday and Friday only. On other weekdays the paper sold at newsstands would be smaller, about 32 pages, and redesigned. This arrangement went into effect March 30, 2009. The ''Free Press'' entered a news partnership with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

WWJ-TV WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, alongside WKBD-TV (channel 50), an affiliate of The CW. The two ...

channel 62 in March 2009 to produce a morning news show called ''First Forecast Mornings''. Prior to the partnership, WWJ aired absolutely no local newscast at all. In February 2014, the DMP announced its offices along with those of the ''Free Press'' and ''The Detroit News'' would occupy six floors in both the old and new sections of the former

Federal Reserve building The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building houses the main offices of the Board of Governors of the United States' Federal Reserve System. It is located at the intersection of 20th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. Th ...

at 160 West Fort Street. The partnership expected to place signs on the exterior similar to those on the former offices. The move took place beginning in October 2014.

2015–Present: Ownership changes

In June 2015, Gannett split itself into two companies. The company's television broadcasters and digital publishers became part of a new company known as

Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...

while its traditional print publishers became part of a new Gannett. In November 2019, the newspaper announced it would cut four staff positions ahead of the

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

conglomerate completing its purchase of Gannett. The Gannett board finalized the purchase agreement on November 19, 2019. In 2025, Gannett announced it will close the paper's printing facility in

Sterling Heights, Michigan Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Sterling Heights is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 134,346, placing Sterl ...

with 115 jobs lost. The production of 32 newspaper will be transferred to other printing plants. About six months later Gannett announced it will not renew the joint operating agreement with the ''Detroit News.'' The agreement is set to expire at the end of the year.

Other ''Free Press'' publications

* ''

Screen & Radio Weekly ''Screen & Radio Weekly'' was a nationally syndicated Sunday tabloid-newspaper-supplement published by the ''Detroit Free Press'' from 1934 to 1940 that covered film, radio, and fashion – and included a short story. History The concept for ...

'' (1934–1940) * ''The Detroit Almanac: 300 Years of Life in the Motor City'' (2001). Peter Gavrilovich and Bill McGraw, editors.

Notable people

Mitch Albom Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and musician. As of 2021, he has sold 40 million books worldwide. Having achieved national recognition for sports writing in his early career, he turned to writing inspi ...

Edward A. Batchelor Edward Armistead Batchelor Sr. (September 1883 – July 1968), also known as "Batch" and "E.A.", was an American sportswriter and editor for ''The Providence Journal'', the ''Detroit Free Press'', and ''The Detroit News''. He was one of the chart ...

* Jack Berry *

Eva Best Eva Best (, Williams; pen name, Saturn; 1851–1925) was an American story writer, poet, music composer, dramatist, and painter. She worked as a newspaper editor. She wrote a great deal in dialect. Best was among the first persons to recognize ...

* Donna Britt *

Frank Bruni Frank Anthony Bruni (born October 31, 1964) is an American journalist writing for ''The New York Times'' since 1995. Following a wide range of assignments, including a stint as chief restaurant critic, he was named an op-ed columnist in June 2011 ...

Mike Downey Mike Downey may refer to: * Mike Downey (columnist) (1951–2024), American newspaper columnist * Mike Downey (producer) (fl. 1980s–2020s), Irish-British film producer See also * Mike Downie (fl. 1990s–2020s), Canadian documentary filmm ...

Joe Falls Joseph Francis Falls (May 2, 1928 – August 11, 2004) was an American journalist. He began his career in his native New York City. At the age of 17 in 1945, he took a job as a copyboy for the Associated Press. After an apprenticeship of eight y ...

* John Gallagher *

David Gilkey David P. Gilkey (January 5, 1966 – June 5, 2016) was a U.S. photojournalist for National Public Radio in the United States, for whom he covered disasters, epidemics and war. It was originally reported that Gilkey and his native Afghan handler ...

Robin Givhan Robin Givhan (born September 11, 1964) is an American fashion editor and Pulitzer Prize winning writer. Givhan was a fashion editor for ''The Washington Post''. She joined the ''Post'' in 1995, and left in 2010 to become the fashion critic and fa ...

* Susan Goldberg *

Ellen Goodman Ellen Goodman (born April 11, 1941) is an American journalist and syndicated columnist. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980. She is also a speaker and commentator. Career Goodman's career began as a researcher and reporter for ''Newsweek'' magazi ...

Gary Graff Gary Graff (born 1960) is an American music journalist and author. Biography Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper ''The Taylor Allderdice Foreword''. He recei ...

* Sam Greene *

Edgar Guest Edgar Albert Guest (20 August 1881 – 5 August 1959) was a British-born American poet who became known as the People's Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. Early life Guest was born in Birmingham ...

* Dick Guindon * Ken Hamblin * Stephen Henderson *

Jemele Hill Jemele Juanita Hill ( ; born December 21, 1975) is an American sports journalist. She worked for the '' Raleigh News & Observer'', the ''Detroit Free Press'', and the ''Orlando Sentinel''. She joined ESPN in 2006 and worked in various roles unt ...

* Lee Hills *

Royce Howes Royce Bucknam Howes (January 3, 1901 – March 18, 1973) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer who also published a biography of Edgar A. Guest and a number of crime novels. He worked for the ''Detroit Free Press'' from 1927 to 1966 a ...

Clark Hoyt Clark Hoyt is an American journalist who was the public editor of ''The New York Times'', serving as the "readers' representative." He was the newspaper's third public editor, or ombudsman, after Daniel Okrent and Byron Calame. His initial two-y ...

Joe S. Jackson Joseph S. Jackson (July 1871 – May 19, 1936) was an American sports journalism, sportswriter and editor for the ''Detroit Free Press'', ''The Washington Post'' and ''The Detroit News''. He was the founder and first president of the Baseball Wr ...

David Cay Johnston David Cay Boyle Johnston (born December 24, 1948) is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was ...

Dorothy Misener Jurney Dorothy Misener Jurney (May 8, 1909 – June 19, 2002) was an American journalist. As women's page editor for the ''Miami Herald'', she shifted the focus of those pages from the "Four F's – family, food, fashion, and furnishings" – to ...

Michelle Kaufman Michelle Kaufman (born 1965) is an American sportswriter and columnist for the ''Miami Herald''. She writes a column every Sunday on sports, focusing on soccer in particular. She also covers tennis, Olympic sports and college and professional spor ...

David Lawrence Jr. David Lawrence Jr. (born March 5, 1942) is an American nationally known newspaper editor and publisher who retired at the age of 56 and subsequently became a leading national advocate for children, especially in the area of early childhood invest ...

* John C. Lodge *

Kurt Luedtke Kurt Luedtke (; September 28, 1939August 9, 2020) was an American screenwriter and executive editor of the ''Detroit Free Press''. He wrote '' Out of Africa'' (1985), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also wrote ...

Myra MacPherson Myra MacPherson (born 1934) is an American author, biographer, and journalist known for writing about politics, the Vietnam War, feminism, and death and dying. Although her work has appeared in many publications, she had a long affiliation with ...

Dori J. Maynard Dori J. Maynard (May 4, 1958 – February 24, 2015) was an American writer and journalist. She was the president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, California, and the co-author of ''Letters to My Children'', ...

Eric Millikin Eric Millikin is an American contemporary art, artist and Activism, activist based in Detroit, Michigan, and Richmond, Virginia. He is known for his work in artificial intelligence art, Virtual art, augmented and virtual reality art, conceptual a ...

Elvis Mitchell Elvis Mitchell (born December 6, 1958) is an American film critic, host of the public radio show ''The Treatment'', and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', the ''LA Weekly ...

Al Neuharth Allen Harold "Al" Neuharth (March 22, 1924 – April 19, 2013) was an American businessman, author, and columnist born in Eureka, South Dakota. He was the founder of ''USA Today'', The Freedom Forum, and its Newseum. Early life Al Neuharth was ...

Jack Ohman Jack Ohman (born September 1, 1960) is an American editorial cartoonist and educator. He is currently a contributing opinion columnist and cartoonist for the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. He formerly worked for ''The Sacramento Bee'' and ''The Or ...

* Rob Parker *

Rochelle Riley Rochelle Riley is the Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit. She formerly was a nationally syndicated columnist for the ''Detroit Free Press'' in Detroit, Michigan, United States. She was an advocate in her column for improved race re ...

James Risen James Risen (born April 27, 1955) is an American journalist for '' The Intercept''. He previously worked for ''The New York Times'' and before that for ''Los Angeles Times''. He has written or co-written many articles concerning U.S. governmen ...

* Gene Roberts *

Neal Rubin Neal Rubin (born 1955) is an American cartoonist and writer. He is currently a columnist for '' The Detroit Free Press''. He previously wrote the nationally syndicated comic strip '' Gil Thorp.'' He previously spent 15 years as a feature writer ...

* Lyall Smith *

Jennie O. Starkey Jennie O. Starkey (ca. 1856 – October 21, 1918) was an American journalist and newspaper editor, the first woman in Detroit to adopt journalism as a profession. As a staff member of the ''Detroit Free Press'', she managed "The Puzzler" department ...

Joe Stroud Joe Hinton Stroud (18 June 1936 – 9 May 2002) was editor and senior vice president of the ''Detroit Free Press'' from 1973 to 1998. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and political science from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and a mast ...

Neely Tucker Neely Tucker (born November 26, 1963, in Lexington, Mississippi) is an American journalist and writer. He is the author of ''Love in the Driest Season'', an autobiographical story that chronicles his journey from his education at a whites-only s ...

* David Turnley *

Rob Wagner Robert Leicester Wagner (August 2, 1872 – July 20, 1942) was the editor and publisher of ''Script'', a weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills, California, between 1929 and 1949. Rob Wagner was a magazine writer, screenwrite ...

Lewis Walter Lewis H. Walter (December 14, 1905 – September 29, 1982) was an American sports journalist. A columnist for ''Detroit Times'' and ''Detroit Free Press'', he won the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1984 and is a member of the media section of th ...

* Taro Yamasaki

References

External links

Official website

Detroit Newspaper Partnership
{{Authority control Newspapers published in Detroit Gannett publications Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Newspapers established in 1831 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners