The ''Riverdale Press'' is a

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

that covers the Northwest

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

neighborhoods of Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights and Van Cortlandt Village, as well as the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

neighborhood of Marble Hill. It was founded in 1950 by husband and wife David A. Stein and Celia Stein.

History

In the 1950s, The ''Press'' fought to rezone Riverdale to preserve private homes and open space threatened by development. It played a key role in the creation of new public schools to accommodate the residents of newly built apartments and in rescuing a large tract of land in Spuyten Duyvil for a park. Later, it advocated creation of a special natural area district to protect the area's distinctive trees and rocks. In 1978, Bernard Stein succeeded his father as editor, gaining for ''The Press'' a reputation as a crusading newspaper. "''The Riverdale Press'' courted controversy and cast a tough, skeptical eye on local officials, who ignored the paper at their peril," wrote ''The New York Times'' ''The Press'' was the first newspaper to disclose corruption on the city's community school boards; its reporting on the construction of the largest medical waste incinerator in the state in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

led to the indictment of the chair of the local community board and, eventually, to shuttering the incinerator. For that effort, the paper earned the highest honor of the city's Deadline Club, the James Wright Brown Public Service Award, beating out Newsday and Forbes Magazine, the runners-up. Bernard Stein's brother, Richard, was the paper's general manager, and also responsible for its design, including the creation of its current flag, used almost continuously since 1971. On David Stein's death in 1982, the brothers became co-publishers of ''The Press''. In June 2008, the brothers sold ''The Press'' to another pair of brothers, Stuart and Clifford Richner of Richner Communications, publishers of 28 Long Island community newspapers. The Steins remain on the masthead as publishers emeriti. Michael Hinman was editor between 2017 and 2022, before being promoted to executive editor over more than two dozen publications with the parent company, including ''The Riverdale Press''. During Hinman's tenure, ''The Press'' won 40 New York Press Association awards, including top honors for general excellence in 2020 and 2021. Hinman was later let go from ''The Press'' and its sister newspaper group, Herald Community Newspapers, after allegations he mistreated his editorial staff were published by watchdog journalism outlet ''The Objective''.

Firebombing incident

At about 5 a.m. on February 28, 1989, two men hurled firebombs at the offices of ''The Press''. No one was hurt, but the first floor of the two-story building was consumed by the flames. The bombing took place five days after the newspaper published an editorial defending the right to read

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

's novel '' The Satanic Verses'', while the editorial was still on newsstands. A call to 911 claiming responsibility said the newspaper was bombed in retaliation for its editorial. The

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

gave the paper's co-publishers Richard and Bernard Stein its First Amendment Award for their courage in continuing to publish despite the severe damage caused to the paper's offices by the firebombing. The editorial that enraged the bombers is posted on Bernard Stein's blog. For 10 years on the anniversary of the bombing-for as long as Rushdie remained in hiding-the paper published an editorial about the author, both to call attention to his plight and to demonstrate that the bombers had not intimidated the paper.

Pulitzer Prize

In 1998, ''Press'' editor and co-publisher Bernard L. Stein won th
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
for what the Pulitzer judges called "his gracefully-written editorials on politics and other issues affecting New York City residents." He was also a finalist for the prize in 1987 and 1988.

Legacy

Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, the public middle school and high school that serves Riverdale and Kingsbridge, is named after ''Riverdale Press'' founder David A. Stein. The New York Press Association names its annual award for overall design excellence the Richard L. Stein Award. ''The'' Press continues to win this award, most recently in 2021.

References

External links