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 ...
published from 1847 to 1982 in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. Its widely known slogan was: "In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads ''The Bulletin''."
Describing the ''Bulletin''s style, publisher William L. McLean once said: "I think the ''Bulletin'' operates on a principle which in the long run is unbeatable. This is that it enters the reader's home as a guest. Therefore, it should behave as a guest, telling the news rather than shouting it." As ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' magazine later noted: "In its news columns, the ''Bulletin'' was solid if unspectacular. Local affairs were covered extensively, but politely.
Muckraking
The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...
was frowned upon."
History
1847 to 1895
''The Bulletin'' was first published by Alexander Cummings on April 17, 1847, as ''Cummings’ Evening Telegraphic Bulletin''.''Cummings’ Evening Telegraphic Bulletin'', April 17, 1847, p. 1, reprinted in ''The Philadelphia Bulletin'', January 18, 1984 When Cummings sold in 1860, James S. Chambers succeeded him as publisher. It made history with its inaugural edition by publishing the first telegraph report in a U.S. newspaper, a dispatch from the Mexican War.
Cummings lost control of the ''Bulletin'' to stockholders in the 1850s. From 1859 until 1895, the paper was edited by Gibson Peacock. ''The Bulletin'' was last in circulation of Philadelphia's 13 daily newspapers for the remainder of the 19th century.
1895 to 1975
Upon Peacock's death, the paper was bought by businessman William L. McLean. When McLean bought the last-place ''Bulletin'' in 1895, it sold for 2 cents, equal to $ today. McLean cut the price in half and increased coverage of local news. By 1905 the paper was the city's largest.
In 1912, the ''Bulletin'' was one of a cooperative of four newspapers, including the ''
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
'', ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
syndicate.
McLean's son Robert took over in 1931. Later in the 1930s, the paper bought WPEN, one of Philadelphia's early radio stations. In 1946, it acquired a construction permit for Philadelphia's third television station.
In 1947 the ''Bulletin'' bought out a morning competitor, ''
The Philadelphia Record
''The Philadelphia Record'' was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader.
History
''The Public Record'' ...
'', and incorporated features of the ''Record''s Sunday edition into the new ''Sunday Bulletin''. By 1947 the ''Bulletin'' was the nation's biggest evening daily, with 761,000 readers. Along with the ''Record'', it also acquired the rights to buy Philadelphia's third-oldest radio station, WCAU. In a complex deal, the ''Bulletin'' sold off WPEN and WCAU's FM sister, changed WPEN-FM's call letters to WCAU-FM, and the calls for its under-construction television station to WCAU-TV. The WCAU stations were sold to CBS in 1957.
The ''Bulletin''s understated brand of journalism won Pulitzer Prizes in 1964 and 1965. James V. Magee, Albert V. Gaudiosi and Frederick Meyer won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting for their expose of numbers racket operations with police collusion in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west. J.A. Livingston won the 1965
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Re ...
for his reports on the growth of economic independence among
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
As readers and advertisers moved from the city to the suburbs, the ''Bulletin'' attempted to follow. It introduced regional editions for four suburban counties and leased a plant in southern
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...
to print a state edition. Reporters attended school and county meetings, but their efforts could not match the combined resources of the smaller suburban dailies.
The ''Bulletin'' also faced difficulties that plagued all big-city evening newspapers: Late afternoon traffic made distribution more costly than for morning papers. The ''Bulletin'' faced even greater competition from television evening newscasts.
The ''Bulletin''s biggest problem, however, may have been the morning ''Philadelphia Inquirer''. ''The Inquirer'' was on the verge of extinction until Eugene L. Roberts Jr. became executive editor in 1972 and William Boyd Dickinson retired as executive editor of ''The Bulletin'' in 1973. Under Roberts, ''The Inquirer'' won six consecutive Pulitzer Prizes and gained national reputation for quality journalism. ''The Inquirer'' grabbed the circulation lead in 1980. By 1982, ''The Inquirer'' was receiving 60 percent of the city’s newspaper advertising revenue, compared to ''The Bulletin'''s 24-percent share. ''The Bulletin'' launched a morning edition in 1978, but by then the momentum had shifted decisively.
Final months
In 1980, the ''Bulletin'' was acquired by the Charter Company of
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
a
conglomerate
Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to:
* Conglomerate (company)
* Conglomerate (geology)
* Conglomerate (mathematics)
In popular culture:
* The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes
** Co ...
which would spend most of the 1980s in various financial troubles. In December 1981, Charter put it up for sale. ''The Bulletin'' continued publishing while speaking with prospective buyers. City residents organized a “Save Our Bulletin” campaign. On January 18, 1982, 300 loyal supporters sporting S.O.B. buttons held a candlelight vigil in front of the paper's offices in subfreezing weather. Philadelphia Mayor William Green offered tax breaks and low-interest loans to help finance a purchase.
With no prospective buyers, Charter attempted to give the newspaper away. No publisher, however, would assume the paper's $29.5 million in promissory notes and $12 million in severance costs to the paper's 1,943 employees. Four groups of buyers did come forward, but each found the newspaper's prospects too discouraging.
After losing $21.5 million in 1981, ''The Bulletin'' was dropping nearly $3 million per month when it published its final edition on January 29, 1982. Said Charter Company President J.P. Smith Jr.: "In the final analysis, the paper was unable to generate the circulation and additional advertising revenues ... it needed to survive."
The headline of the final edition read "Goodbye: After 134 years, a Philadelphia voice is silent" and the paper’s slogan was changed to "Nearly Everybody ''Read'' The Bulletin" (emphasis added). A front-page message to readers appeared " below the fold" in which Publisher N.S. (“Buddy”) Hayden stated: "It’s over. And there’s very little left to say, except goodbye."''The Philadelphia Bulletin'', January 18, 1982
The ''Bulletin''s internal newsclipping files (approximately 500,000 pieces), card indexes, and photographs (''ca.'' 3 million) are now held in the
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...
Libraries. Thousands of ''Bulletin'' photographs have been scanned and have been made available by the Temple Libraries for online study. A limited sampling of clippings are also available online.
Relaunch: ''The Bulletin''
In 2004 Philadelphia investment banker Thomas G. Rice bought the ''Bulletin'' naming rights from the McLean family. Rice's new newspaper, which began circulating on November 22, 2004, was known as ''
The Bulletin
Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to:
Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals)
* Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper
* ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008)
** Bulletin Debate, ...
''. On June 1, 2009, the paper suspended print publication, but continued publishing stories on its website. By early 2011, the website was offline as well.
Dan Hirschhorn
Dan Hirschhorn is an American national political journalist, who currently serves as senior politics editor and a deputy news editor at ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. He has previously served as director of news at Time, Inc. and Time.com.
Hir ...
*
William P. McGivern
William Peter McGivern (December 6, 1918 – November 18, 1982) was an American novelist and television scriptwriter. He published more than 20 novels, mostly mysteries and crime thrillers, some under the pseudonym Bill Peters.
His novels wer ...
*
Albert J. Neri
Albert J. "Al" Neri (September 1, 1952 – May 7, 2011) was a Pennsylvania political news correspondent, pundit, and political analyst.
At the beginning of his career, Neri worked as a journalist following state and local government and politic ...
*
Marjorie Paxson
Marjorie Paxson (August 13, 1923 – June 17, 2017) was an American newspaper journalist, editor, and publisher during an era in American history when the women's liberation movement was setting milestones by tackling the barriers of discrimina ...