St. Cloud Times
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''St. Cloud Times'' is an American,
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
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 ...
headquartered in
St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud or Saint Cloud (; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the c ...
. The ''Times'' is owned by mass media holding company
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 ...
and is part of the ''
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 ...
'' network of newspapers. The print version of the paper is printed by ECM Publishers in
Princeton, Minnesota Princeton is a city in Mille Lacs and Sherburne counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, at the junction of the Rum River and its West Branch. It is north of Minneapolis and east of St. Cloud, at the intersection of Highways 169 and 95. ...
.


History

The ''St. Cloud Times and Journal Press'' was created in 1929 through the merger of several local newspapers, including the ''St. Cloud Union'', ''The Visitor'', ''St. Cloud Democrat'', ''St. Cloud Journal-Press'', and German Language ''Der Nordstern''. The paper was renamed to the ''St. Cloud Daily Times'' in 1941, becoming a six-day a week afternoon paper owned by Fred Schilplin. The newspaper was purchased by Speidel Newspapers in 1975, which in turn was purchased 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 largest newspaper holding company in the United States, in 1977. The ''Times'' added a Sunday edition in 1988. The St. Cloud Journal-Press had previously been known as the "St. Cloud Journal" St. Cloud was also home to the ''Minnesota Union'' newspaper, founded by Sylvanus Lowry, a slave owner from
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, Democratic
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, and the city's first council president (the office of mayor did not exist) to compete with
Radical Republican The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...
Jane Swisshelm Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm (December6, 1815July22, 1884) was an American Radical Republican journalist, publisher, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate. She was one of America's first female journalists hired by Horace Greeley at his ''New ...
's ''Saint Cloud Visiter'' and to provide a pro-slavery viewpoint. Lowry lived in St. Cloud in 1854 until his death in 1865. Swisshelm left St. Cloud when the Civil War broke out in 1861. In a May 2010 report by
Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, KNOW-FM, News & Information, KSJN, YourClassical MPR and KCMP, The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper ...
,
St. Cloud State University St. Cloud State University (SCSU) is a public university in St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1869, the university is one of the largest institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In the fall of 2023, it ...
professor Christopher Lehman claimed that "Lowry founded a pro-slavery newspaper, The Union, which later became the St. Cloud Times." The Minnesota State Historical Society does not reference any holdings for the Lowry paper. The St. Cloud Times history of multiple changes of ownership does not include the Lowry "The Union" paper among the five local publications that merged over time. "With a population of just over two thousand in 1870, St. Cloud, Minnesota, was a bustling thoroughfare, but not large enough to support the multiple newspapers published in the city."


Legacy of national and state awards

"In its prime, the paper had 40 to 50 people in its newsroom covering three counties and beyond, regularly winning state and even national journalism awards." In the 32 years between 1985-2017, the St. Cloud Times was named the Minnesota Newspaper Association's daily newspaper of the year 25 times. That honor - the Vance Trophy - is determined by news professionals from outside Minnesota, with new judges each year. The Vance Trophy was won in succession under top editors Don Casey, Susan Ihne, John Bodette and Lisa Schwarz. In 2017, the Times won the national Sigma Delta Chi/Society of Professional Journalists award for Breaking News for its coverage of th
confession of the murderer of Jacob Wetterling
a 12-year-old St. Joseph, Minn., boy who was abducted at gunpoint in 1989. Team: Kirsti Marohn, David Unze, Stephanie Dickrell, Jenny Berg, David Schwarz and Jason Wachter (photographers). Led by editor Lisa Schwarz. In 2012, the Times won the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Best in Business - Innovation Award for a multimedia reporting project about the impact of the Bakken oil boom on Central Minnesota, almost two states away. Judges comments on "Chasing Futures in the Oil Patch" were: "The paper was able to show readers a direct relationship from the boom in North Dakota to St. Cloud’s economy. The package showed an extraordinary investment of time, thought and space by the paper to the story, although St. Cloud has limited resources." The project also won first place for in-depth reporting from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists. Team: Kevin Allenspach, Kimm Anderson (photographer), Lisa Sabyan (graphic artist). Led by editor Lisa Schwarz. In 2010, the Times won the national Sigma Delta Chi/Society of Professional Journalists award for Investigative Reporting for an 18-month project exploring the public, economic and personal costs of dozens of failed housing developments in the Great Recession. Team: Kirsti Marohn, Britt Johnson, Lisa Sabyan (graphic artist). Led by editor Lisa Schwarz. In 2007, the Times won the national Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism: Multimedia for Downtown After Dark, a multimedia reporting project that showed a college community what its bar district looked like after everyone but the students, hospitality workers and law enforcement was in bed. Team: Kari Petrie, Dave Schwarz (photographer). Led by editor Lisa Schwarz. In 2004, the Times embedded reporter Michelle Tan and photographer Dave Schwarz with the 367th Infantry assigned to Bagram, Afghanistan for three weeks. In addition to daily reports, the Times produced a book from their reporting. Led by editor Rene Kaluza.


Decline and Downsizing

The Times had daily circulation of more than 30,000, nearing 40,000 on Sundays, as recently as the mid-2000s and employed more than 40 people in the newsroom and more than 250 on site in its printing, advertising and business operations. The presses were retired in 2009 due to proximity of a larger company-owned printing operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. In 2018, the building at 3000 7th Ave. North was sold, along with other Gannett real estate nationwide, to Twenty Lake Holding, a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital. The Times relocated its then-35 total employees to a custom-remodeled, leased property at 24 Eighth Avenue South in downtown St. Cloud on April 1, 2019. Following its 2018 purchase by
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 ...
, parent company
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 ...
eliminated more than half (12,000+) of its newsroom jobs nationwide between 2019 and 2022, cuts substantially deeper than the rate of newspaper revenue decline. The downsizing is blamed in part on millions of dollars in debt payments related to the Gatehouse/Gannett deal. The Times' editor resigned in July 2022, leaving a news staff of nine behind. After layoffs in August 2022, voluntary buyouts in December 2022 and resignations, a single reporter remained by December 2022 to cover Minnesota's fifth largest metropolitan area, with a population of 200,000. Industry observers referred to the shell publication as a 'ghost paper'.
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asked Gannett in December 2022 how the bare-bones St. Cloud staff could keep producing a daily paper. The email response: "While incredibly difficult, implementing these efficiencies and responding decisively to the ongoing macroeconomic volatility will continue to propel Gannett's future." The last remaining news reporter at the paper resigned in January 2023 to join St. Cloud Live, a new, free online publication produced by The Forum Communications Company, headquartered in Fargo North Dakota, 155 miles northwest of St. Cloud by
Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
. (A sports reporter was hired later in 2023 as the Times' next sole news staffer.) Forum Chief Content Office Mary Jo Hotzler said: "St. Cloud, from a geographical standpoint, makes sense. But more than that, we are deeply committed to local journalism and see a need in St. Cloud."Jennifer Hoff
"Last St. Cloud Times reporter leaves newspaper"
KARE 11 News, January 27, 2023
In 2022, Gannett ended newspaper delivery of the Times, distributing the paper through the U.S. Mail instead, eliminating a separate Saturday edition and delivering the Sunday paper on Saturday instead.


Online Digital

The newspaper's website, sctimes.com, was established in 1998., and refers to the publication as the "SC Times". The publication offers readers a 'digital only' option.


References


External links


Official website
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