The ''Houston Press'' is an

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 ...

published in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

revenue and is free to readers. It reports a monthly readership of 1.6 million online users. Prior to the 2017 cessation of the print edition, the ''Press'' was found in restaurants, coffee houses, and local retail stores. New weekly editions were distributed on Thursdays.

History

The alt-weekly ''Houston Press'' was founded in 1989 by John Wilburn, Chris Hearne (founder of Austin's ''Third Coast Magazine'') and Kirk Cypel (a vice president of a Houston-based investment group) conceived of this news and entertainment weekly after rejecting a business plan to relaunch ''Texas Business Magazine''. Hearne and John Wilburn, who previously managed the Sunday magazine of the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'', jointly established the magazine. Hearne was the paper's first publisher and Cypel served as the organization's business advisor. Although the paper faced early challenges, the landscape changed when Hearne and Cypel engineered a buyout of ''713 Magazine'', a key competitor. Once in control of 713, they stopped its publication and converted advertisers to the ''Houston Press''. Thereafter, the ''Houston Press''s advertising and circulation grew dramatically. Prior to the establishment of the ''Houston Press'', the city did not have a major alternative weekly publication. Its original cover story was about the election of the

Mayor of Houston The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Qualifications, election, and terms To file to run for mayor, a person must be a qualified voter of the city of Houston, and have h ...

. For the newspaper's first five years, Niel Morgan served as the investor, and therefore the owner; Morgan was a real estate developer. Due to Wilburn's desire to get mainstream advertising, he chose not to run sexually-oriented advertising. After Wilburn and Morgan found themselves disagreeing over aspects of the paper, Wilburn quit. In the period before 1993 the ''Houston Press'' experienced financial difficulties. That year, Morgan sold the paper to New Times Media. Sexually-oriented advertising appeared after the sale. The paper's fortunes improved due to the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

of 1997–2001 and the increase in advertising; it was one of the first alternative weeklies in the United States to establish a website. In 1998 ''Houston Press'' acquired the assets of an alternative paper, '' Public News'', that was ceasing operations. Employees of ''Public News''' sales department began working for the ''Houston Press''. That year Margaret Downing became the primary editor. There were 23 reporters and editors in 1998. Michael Hardy stated in the ''

Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3) Advertising-related income declined due to the rise of persons reading articles online, as well as the establishment of

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

. In 2005, New Times acquired

Village Voice Media Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the ...

, and changed its name to

. In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed Voice Media Group. The paper's fortunes declined, as

Backpage Backpage was a classified advertising website founded in 2004 by the alternative newspaper chain New Times Inc./New Times Media (later known as Village Voice Media or VVM) as a rival to Craigslist. Similar to Craigslist, Backpage let users po ...

, which separated from Village Voice Media, had contributed significant funding. On November 3, 2017, Voice Media Group announced that it would cease printing of the ''Press'', moving to online-only publication, and that the paper would only use freelance journalists. Voice Media Group cited

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

as the final factor behind the cessation, and Downing stated that a recession in the oil industry and the decline of revenue from advertising contributed to the decision. The majority of the ''Press'' employees, including nine full-time editorial staff members and at least six employees on the advertising staff, lost their jobs. Downing and publisher Stuart Folb continued, along with a small advertising staff and marketing manager. The online-only scenario was a compromise reached by Downing and Folb with the owners, who initially wished to completely shut the paper down. In 2021, Voice Media Group sold the ''Houston Press'' to an anonymous buyer.

Content

Hardy stated that the ''Houston Press'', known for its coverage of the

culture of Houston Houston is a multiculturalism, multicultural city with a thriving international community supported by the third largest concentration of consular offices in the United States, representing 86 nations. In addition to historical Southeast Texas ...

, was like a "

court jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

" compared to the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' being the "king" of Houston's journalism industry; he added "Its music and arts listings were more comprehensive and reliable than those of the ''Chronicle'', which often seemed painfully out of touch, and it had the best critics in the city." He added that "The ''Press'' established a reputation for punching above its weight" in regards to investigative journalism, citing how an article led to the exoneration of

Roy Criner Sharon Faye Keller (born August 1, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She is a Republican. Education and early career Born in Texas, Keller graduated from Rice University in Houston in 1975 with a major in phil ...

. The publication included John Nova Lomax's articles on the cityscape and music as well as

Robb Walsh Robb Walsh is an American food writer, cookbook author, and restaurant owner who divides his time between Galway Bay, Ireland, and Galveston, Texas. He is a former commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, Sunday; former restaurant ...

's articles on the cuisine of Houston.

Headquarters

The headquarters of the ''Houston Press'' are located in Midtown Houston on McGowen Street. Prior to 1998,Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The ''Houston Press'' Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." ''Houston Press''. October 25, 2013. p
1Archive
. Retrieved on October 25, 2013. the ''Houston Press'' was located in Suite 1900 of the 2000 West Loop South building in

Uptown Houston Uptown (more commonly called The Galleria Area) is a business district in Houston, located west of Downtown Houston, Downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road (Farm to Market Road 1093). The Uptown District is rou ...

, off of the 610 Loop West Loop. In 1998, it moved to a new location in

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

, which became the ''Houston Press'' building and was originally built in 1927. That building is in close proximity to the ExxonMobil Building. Shelor Motor Company was the building's first occupant and used it as an automobile showroom. Beginning in the 1960s, the facility served as the Gillman Pontiac dealership building. In 1994 Suzanne Sellers painted a by

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

mural around two of the building's sides. It is visible from Leeland, Milam, and Travis streets. In 2008 the ''Houston Press'' building received damage from

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

since the hurricane caused water to go through the parking area on the building's roof into the offices. In 2010 the ''Houston Press'' installed new energy efficient windows in place of the original glass windows on the facility's second and third floors. On the weekend after Friday October 25, 2013 the ''Houston Press'' was scheduled to move to its new offices in Midtown, then on 2603 LaBranch Street.Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The ''Houston Press'' Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." ''Houston Press''. October 25, 2013. p
2Archive
. Retrieved on October 25, 2013. "Our new address will be 2603 La Branch Street, Houston TX 77004"

Awards

Up until the November 2017 loss of salaried staff, the ''Houston Press'' won various awards for its coverage. Awards from the

Association of Alternative Newsweeklies The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. A ...

: 2007 *First Place, Feature Story; Third Place, Investigative Reporting Todd Spivak *First Place, Music Criticism; Second Place, Arts Feature John Nova Lomax *Second Place, News Story/Long Form, Craig Malisow 2005 *Honorable Mention, Column above 50,000: "Downing" by Margaret Downing *3rd Place, Education: Above 50,000: "HCCS's Gift Basket Bonanza" by Josh Harkinson *2nd Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: "The Cow Says Oink" by

*3rd Place, News Story (1500 words or less): "Firing Line" by Josh Harkinson 2004 *2nd Place, Column-Political: Above 50,000: Tim Fleck *1st Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: Robb Walsh *3rd Place, Religion Reporting: Above 50,000: "Doing Time" by Scott Nowell 2003 *1st Place, Media Reporting: Above 50,000: "Reality TV Bites" by Jennifer Mathieu 2001 *2nd Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Paying the Price" by Bob Burtman 2000 *1st Place, Column: Above 54,000: Margaret Downing *1st Place, Corrections Reporting: Above 54,000: "Trouble in Mind" by Steve McVicker 1999 *1st Place, Online 1998 *1st Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Easy Street" by Bob Burtman *1st Place, Web Site: "Webb Page Confidential" Other awards of note include Todd Spivak's 2006 first place win in the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association under 100,000 circulation weekly category, and Rich Connelly's first place in the humor category of the under 100,000 circulation bracket of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

References

External links