Trentonian

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The Trentonian is a daily newspaper serving Trenton, New Jersey, and the surrounding Mercer County community. The paper has a daily circulation of slightly more than 30,000. Its editorial tone is considered conservative in nature^[1].

The paper is owned by the Journal Register Company, a media company headquartered in Yardley, Pennsylvania, specializing in newspaper publishing, that owns 22 daily and 344 non-daily newspapers mainly in the north-eastern United States. The company is also reported to be some $726.3 million in debt.

The Trentonian was known as a fiesty, gritty tabloid from its start in 1946 when 40 members of the International Typographic Union broke away from the Trenton Times to start their own paper.

When the Washington Post bought the Times in 1975, Katharine Graham vowed to make Trenton a one-paper town. She reportedly would later admit that Trenton was her "Waterloo."

The Trentonian consistently covers less local news than its competitors. In fact, the Trenton tabloid has cut its editorial staff so much in the last two years that it produces very little of its own local news.^{[citation needed]} Because of staff cuts, even one of JRC's highly-paid vice presidents was pressed into menial newspaper duties such as typsetting obituaries, while Trentonian publisher William T. Murray, known as Bill, returns to the office at midnight to help proof copy, and serves as his own secretary.

The book Tabloid From Hell details what the author considers to be the decline of The Trentonian, with much of the blame directed at Robert M. Jelenic, JRC's president, whom the author says spent too much time on discipline and trivial matters, not enough on quality journalism. A Mary Walton interview in American Journalism Review was also critical of Jelenic.

[edit] Awards and recognition

The 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing was awarded to F. Gilman Spencer, editor of the Trentonian, "for his courageous campaign to focus public attention on scandals in New Jersey's state government".^[2]