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The ''Tallahassee Democrat'' is a daily
The first issue of the ''Weekly True Democrat'' was published March 3, 1905. Founding editor and publisher John G. Collins, a career printer and journalist, said the name came from the paper's promised dedication to "the true and tried principles of Old Time Democracy."
Three years later, in 1908, Collins contracted influenza and sold the newspaper to Milton Asbury Smith, an Alabama newspaperman and entrepreneur. Smith, an enthusiastic civic booster, operated the paper for 21 years. Smith guided the paper through a couple of name changes—the ''Semi-Weekly True Democrat'', 1912–1913; ''Weekly True Democrat'', 1914-1915—and initiated the change to a daily newspaper. Smith published daily during 1913 biannual session of the Florida Legislature, then resumed daily publication during the 1915 legislative session. Smith converted the paper permanently into an afternoon daily newspaper after the 1915 session and the next year adopted the name, ''The Daily Democrat'', 1916–1949.
In 1929, with Smith facing financial problems and threatening to close the newspaper, city fathers persuaded Col. Lloyd Griscom to purchase the newspaper. Griscom was a scion of a prominent New York family that owned a plantation covering much of northeast Leon County (Tallahassee) and he operated newspapers on Long Island. Griscom ran the newspaper mostly as an absentee owner, ceding most decisions to his protege and publisher, John "Jack" Tapers. Tapers oversaw the changing of the newspaper's name to the Tallahassee Democrat in 1949 and construction of a new building in 1952. Griscom died in 1959, and ownership passed to his widow, Audrey.
In 1965, Audrey Griscom sold the Democrat to Knight Newspapers, giving the Democrat its first corporate owner. Knight Newspapers built the Democrat's current plant, at 277 N. Magnolia Drive, in 1968, coinciding with the newspaper's switch from hot type to modern off-set printing. In 1974, Knight Newspapers merged with Ridder Publications to become Knight Ridder Inc. On January 3, 1978, the Democrat converted from an afternoon newspaper to a morning newspaper.
Knight Ridder operated the Tallahassee Democrat until August 3, 2005, when the newspaper was acquired by its current owner, the Gannett Company.
At the time the paper was founded, Leon County and Florida as a whole were overwhelmingly Democratic. In the 1914 elections, Democratic candidates for two of Florida's congressional seats and for the Senate ran unopposed, and in the two contested districts, the Democratic candidates won by 98.8% and 99.3%. At the time, after the disenfranchisement of
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...
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 ...
. It covers the area centered on Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County. The newspaper is owned by Gannett Co., Inc., which also owns the ''Pensacola News Journal
The '' Pensacola News Journal'' is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely read daily.
The ''News Journal'' is owned by Gannett, a national media holding company t ...
'', the '' Fort Myers News-Press'', and ''Florida Today
''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at ''USA Toda ...
'', along with many other news outlets.
Knight Newspapers bought the ''Tallahassee Democrat'' in 1965. The ''Democrat'' was acquired by Gannett in August 2005 in a newspaper swap with Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...
.
History
The first issue of the ''Weekly True Democrat'' was published March 3, 1905. Founding editor and publisher John G. Collins, a career printer and journalist, said the name came from the paper's promised dedication to "the true and tried principles of Old Time Democracy."
Three years later, in 1908, Collins contracted influenza and sold the newspaper to Milton Asbury Smith, an Alabama newspaperman and entrepreneur. Smith, an enthusiastic civic booster, operated the paper for 21 years. Smith guided the paper through a couple of name changes—the ''Semi-Weekly True Democrat'', 1912–1913; ''Weekly True Democrat'', 1914-1915—and initiated the change to a daily newspaper. Smith published daily during 1913 biannual session of the Florida Legislature, then resumed daily publication during the 1915 legislative session. Smith converted the paper permanently into an afternoon daily newspaper after the 1915 session and the next year adopted the name, ''The Daily Democrat'', 1916–1949.
In 1929, with Smith facing financial problems and threatening to close the newspaper, city fathers persuaded Col. Lloyd Griscom to purchase the newspaper. Griscom was a scion of a prominent New York family that owned a plantation covering much of northeast Leon County (Tallahassee) and he operated newspapers on Long Island. Griscom ran the newspaper mostly as an absentee owner, ceding most decisions to his protege and publisher, John "Jack" Tapers. Tapers oversaw the changing of the newspaper's name to the Tallahassee Democrat in 1949 and construction of a new building in 1952. Griscom died in 1959, and ownership passed to his widow, Audrey.
In 1965, Audrey Griscom sold the Democrat to Knight Newspapers, giving the Democrat its first corporate owner. Knight Newspapers built the Democrat's current plant, at 277 N. Magnolia Drive, in 1968, coinciding with the newspaper's switch from hot type to modern off-set printing. In 1974, Knight Newspapers merged with Ridder Publications to become Knight Ridder Inc. On January 3, 1978, the Democrat converted from an afternoon newspaper to a morning newspaper.
Knight Ridder operated the Tallahassee Democrat until August 3, 2005, when the newspaper was acquired by its current owner, the Gannett Company.
At the time the paper was founded, Leon County and Florida as a whole were overwhelmingly Democratic. In the 1914 elections, Democratic candidates for two of Florida's congressional seats and for the Senate ran unopposed, and in the two contested districts, the Democratic candidates won by 98.8% and 99.3%. At the time, after the disenfranchisement of African Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
with the end of Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
, the Democratic party was overwhelmingly the dominant party in the states of the former Confederacy (see Solid South
The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the aftermath of the Co ...
); it was committed, in the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
, to Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...
and racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...
.
In the mid-20th century, during the segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of human ...
period, the ''Democrat'' published a separate section for black subscribers. White subscribers received in its place the business section.
In 2006, fifty years after the Tallahassee bus boycott, the ''Democrat'' apologized for the pro-segregation stance from which it covered the boycott.Julianne Hare, ''Historic Frenchtown. Heart and Heritage in Tallahassee'', Columbia, S.C., History Press, 2006, , p. 79.
Circulation
Its daily circulation is estimated between 36,670 and 49,233 with a Sunday readership of 60,000. Historical circulation based upon Gannett's annual reports.References
External links
* * {{GCI Tallahassee Democrat, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Tallahassee Democrat, The 1905 establishments in Florida Newspapers established in 1905