Erie Times-News

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The 23 April 2008 front page
of the Erie Times-News
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet

Owner The Mead family since 1888
Publisher Rosanne Cheeseman
Editor Rick Sayers
Founded 1888-04-18
Language English
Price $0.50 daily
Headquarters 205 West 12th Street
Erie, Pennsylvania 16534
Flag of the United States United States
Circulation 61,000 (Daily)[1]
88,000 (Sunday)[1]

Website: http://goerie.com

The Erie Times-News is a daily morning newspaper in Erie, Pennsylvania. It has a daily circulation of about 61,000[1] and a Sunday circulation of about 88,000[1]. The newspaper focuses primarily on Erie County, but also has readers in Crawford County to the south and even New York and Ohio, the states that border Erie County on the east and west respectively.

The Erie Times-News is published by the city's Times Publishing Company, not to be confused with, St. Petersburg, Florida-based Times Publishing Company.

Contents

[edit] The beginning

The newspaper was founded as the Erie Daily Times on April 12, 1888, by nine printers involved in a labor dispute at another newspaper. They each invested $25 to establish the Times Publishing Company, which was initially located in a cellar at the corner of 9th Street and State Street. John J. Mead, Sr., one of the founders, eventually bought out his partners. The Mead family, which owns the Times company to this day, headed the newspaper until August 2003. [2]

The newspaper relocated to West 10th Street and Peach Street on April 12, 1924.[2]

[edit] One company, two newspapers

The Times Publishing Company bought out the rival Erie Dispatch Herald in 1956 and co-located the two newspapers' staffs in 1957 in the Dispatch Herald's building at West 12th Street and French Street. On January 7, 1959, the Erie Morning News made its debut. The newspapers' offices were moved to the current address at 205 West 12th Street on June 6, 1970. The company published the Morning News and the afternoon Erie Daily Times until September 29, 2000 and September 1, 2000, respectively. The company merged the two staffs and operations into the present-day Erie Times-News, which was first published on October 2, 2000.[2]

[edit] The Times-News today

Since the merger, the Meads have gradually shifted day-to-day leadership of the newspaper outside the family. In August 2003, company Vice President James E. Dible was promoted to chief executive officer, president and publisher, succeeding the retiring Michael Mead, a grandson of the company founder. At about the same time, Michael Mead's first cousin, Edward M. Mead, stepped down as editor, turning over leadership of the newsroom to Executive Editor Rick Sayers. Both Edward and Michael Mead continue to serve on the company's board of directors, the former as its chairman emeritus.

The Erie Times-News was named the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's 2003 "Newspaper of the Year".[2] PNA awarded second place to the newspaper in 2006. [3]

Offices of the Erie Times-News on West 12th Street
Offices of the Erie Times-News on West 12th Street

On January 16, 2006, the paper announced it was eliminating 24 positions immediately and would eliminate another 11 by February 3, leaving the Erie Times-News with about 250 employees. The paper also killed two of its three "Neighbors" zoned editions, a move that accounted for almost half of the initial 24 job cuts. Dible cited flat revenues and rising costs as the reason for the layoffs.

In September 2006, John Mead Flanagin was named chairman of the board. Flanagin is the first fourth-generation member of the Mead family to hold the position.

On 13 September 2007, the Erie Times-News named Roseanne Cheeseman to replace the retiring James Dible as CEO and publisher of the newspaper as of October 1, 2007.[4] [2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d http://www.cityxpress.com/erie_profile.pdfPDF (113 KiB)
  2. ^ a b c d e Martin, Jim. "120 Years of Changing Times", Erie Times-News, 12 April 2008, pp. 1A, 4A. 
  3. ^ PNA Newspaper of the Year Awards
  4. ^ Palattella, Ed. "Times-News publisher to retire; successor named", Erie Times-News, 2007-09-13. Retrieved on 2007-09-13. 

[edit] External links

  • GoErie.com, the online edition of the Erie Times-News.