Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article/January 2007

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The Philadelphia Inquirer is a daily morning newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. Owned by the local group Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., The Inquirer has the eighth largest weekly U.S. newspaper circulation, and has won eighteen Pulitzer Prizes. Throughout The Inquirer's history, the paper has risen and fallen in prominence. The Inquirer first became a major newspaper during the American Civil War when The Inquirer's war coverage was popular on both sides. After the war the paper's circulation dramatically dropped, but was reinvigorated by the end of the 19th century. While founded with support towards the Democratic Party The Inquirer's political affiliation eventually shifted towards the Whig Party and then the Republican Party before officially becoming politically independent in the middle of the 20th century. By the end of the 1960s The Inquirer trailed behind its chief competitor and lacked modern facilities and experienced staff. However, new owners and editors in the 1970s turned The Inquirer into one of the most prominent newspapers in the country, winning seventeen Pulitzers in fifteen years. Since then, the prestige The Inquirer found in the 1980s has mostly disappeared because of cost cutting and a shift of focus to more local coverage.