''The Florida Keys Keynoter'' is a twice-weekly broadsheet format

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written 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 politics, business, sport ...

owned by

The McClatchy Company The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states an ...

and is a subsidiary of the Miami Herald. It primarily serves

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorporated community and census-designate ...

county in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. In addition to publishing regular issues on Wednesday and Saturday, the Keynoter also publishes the quarterly magazin
Unwind
''The Keynoter'' is a partner of the Upper Keys Reporter, which specializes in coverage of the Upper

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of ...

, including

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected b ...

. The newspaper employs approximately two dozen people in two offices across Monroe County. The offices located in

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

and Tavernier, work with the ''Miami Herald'' to provide complete coverage of the Florida Keys and southern Florida. The newspaper has been continually among the best in the state, repeatedly earning awards from the

Florida Press Association Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

for design and newswriting. The newspaper's coverage of fishing in the Florida Keys and surrounding waters has been repeatedly praised, and special fishing sections regularly feature columns and tips from local fishermen.

History

The Keynoter was founded by Edgar Seney Jr., on February 19, 1953. Seney, a regular vacationer from his home state of Michigan, felt the Keys were missing a platform to inform residents about happenings and issues affecting the Florida Keys. Until that point, the only daily newspaper in the Florida Keys had been the ''

Key West Citizen The ''Key West Citizen'' is a daily newspaper published in Key West, Florida. The newspaper is the result of the amalgamations of several related publications in the early years of the 20th century, becoming the ''Key West Citizen'' on April 29, ...

'', which was and still is primarily concerned with events in Key West. Upon moving to the Florida Keys on a permanent basis, Seney began work on a newspaper that would eventually become the ''Keynoter''. The first issue was published from a small

office operated by Seney, his wife, and half a dozen other workers. Initially published on a weekly basis, Seney accepted a college fellowship in 1955, selling the newspaper to Nicholas Mitchell, associate editor of the Greenville, South Carolina, newspaper. In 1956,

James L. Knight James Landon Knight (July 21, 1909 – February 5, 1991) was an American newspaper publisher and co-founder of the Knight Ridder group of newspapers. He was also co-founder of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with his brother John S. K ...

, one of the founders of the

Knight-Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bran ...

newspaper group, purchased the Keynoter. The Keynoter would remain a Knight-Ridder newspaper until 2006, when Knight-Ridder was purchased by rival newspaper group

. The Keynoter did not come into its own, however, until

Hurricane Donna Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, e ...

ravaged the Florida Keys in September 1960. In the wake of the destruction caused by the hurricane, and to better provide coverage of the devastation, the Keynoter temporarily merged resources with the ''Florida Keys Sun'', a weekly newspaper located in

Islamorada Islamorada (also sometimes Islas Morada) is an incorporated village in Monroe County, Florida. It is located directly between Miami and Key West on five islands— Tea Table Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Windley Key and ...

. The two newspapers published joint editions for three weeks until splitting once more. After only one month of separate operation, however, the two papers merged permanently under the ''Keynoter'' name. The post-merger ''Keynoter'' operated an Upper Keys bureau in the former ''Sun'' offices until 1977, when the bureau was moved to Key Largo, where it today occupies the second floor of the Upper Keys Reporter building. In 1984, the ''Keynoter'' switched to a twice-weekly Wednesday and Saturday publication schedule under the motto "Everyone needs it twice a week." The ''Keynoter'' continues to use this publication schedule and motto today. In 2000, the bi-weekly schedule was bolstered by the addition of L'Attitudes, a weekly arts and entertainment insert included in the Saturday edition of the ''Keynoter''. Also in 2000, the ''Keynoter'' launched the ''Key West Keynoter'', a Key West-oriented edition of the Keynoter, specifically written and designed to appeal to readers in Key West, the most populous city in the Florida Keys.

Awards

In 2007, the ''Keynoter'' received several awards from the

. In the categories of "special section" and "serious column," the ''Keynoter'' earned second place in the 7,000 - 15,000 circulation division. It earned third place in the website and community service categories, also in the 7,000 - 15,000 division. These awards followed on the heels of its 2006 first-place finishes in the categories of general excellence, hurricane coverage, opinion section, web site, environmental writing, and sports column. In all of these categories, the Florida Press Association declared the ''Keynoter'' the best newspaper in the state of Florida in the 7,000 - 15,000 circulation division. That year, the ''Keynoter'' also received awards for in-depth reporting (2nd), outdoors reporting (2nd), obituary writing (3rd), editorial (2nd), serious column (3rd), and news story (honorable mention). In 2006 and 2007, ''

Florida Monthly Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

'' magazine named the ''

Keynoter ''The Florida Keys Keynoter'' is a twice-weekly broadsheet format newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and is a subsidiary of the Miami Herald. It primarily serves Monroe county in the U.S. state of Florida. In addition to publishing regul ...

'' the best weekly newspaper in the state of Florida. ''

The Florida Keys Keynoter ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'' is also the only Florida newspaper, daily, weekly, or otherwise, to win the First Amendment Defense Award three separate times.Florida Keys Keynoter, July 11, 2007, pg. 32.

References

External links

* *
'' Florida Keys Keynoter''
issues freely available through the

Florida Digital Newspaper Library The Florida Digital Newspaper Library provides access to the news and history of Florida through local Florida newspapers. The Florida Digital Newspaper Library is supported by the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries and hosted in ...

{{Authority control Newspapers published in Florida McClatchy publications Knight Ridder Newspapers established in 1953 Mass media in Key West, Florida 1953 establishments in Florida