The April 23, 2008 front page of the Erie Times-News |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | The Mead family since 1888 |
| Publisher | Rosanne Cheeseman |
| Editor | Rick Sayers |
| Founded | April 18, 1888 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 205 West 12th Street Erie, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Circulation | 49,351 (Daily)[1] 47,993 (Saturday)[1] 71,988 (Sunday)[1] |
| Official website | goerie.com |
The Erie Times-News is a daily morning newspaper in Erie, Pennsylvania. It has a daily circulation of about 49,351[1] and a Sunday circulation of about 71,988[1]. The newspaper focuses primarily on Erie County, but also has readers in Crawford County to the south and 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.
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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]
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 East 12th and French streets. On January 7, 1957, the Erie Morning News made its debut. The Times Publishing Company built a new plant, housing a Goss offset press, at 205 West 12th Street, moving there on June 6, 1970. As it had done since 1957, the company kept the editorial departments of the "Morning News" (The "Erie" was removed from the name during the 1960s) and the "Erie Daily Times" separate. The other departments served the entire operation. News and sports reporters shared desks, coming in on separate shifts. Members of both staffs manned the Sunday "Times-News." In 1977, the two Saturday editions were combined into the "Times-News Weekender," a paper staffed only by "Morning News" reporters and editors. 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]
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] The "Newspaper of the Year status was repeated in 2009.
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 September 13, 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.[2][4]
On October 6, 2009, the Times News announced that it had been awarded the "Newspaper of the Year" once again. The articles written about the Recession that were published in March and April were awarded honors as well.
On March 10, 2011, it was announced that 48 employees of the Times News would be permanently laid off from their positions in the printing and packaging departments of the newspaper. [5] The compensation for Erie Times News carriers or "newsies" has not risen for over ten years. Carriers are considered "contractors" and therefore are not entitled to any of the pay or benefits provided Times News employees. The contract is managed by Times News Agents on behalf of the company. This contract can be canceled at any time and for any reason by the newspaper or it's agents. There are two tiers of contract news carriers. The first tier being those compensated directly by the newspaper. Second tier compensation is provided by that carriers respective Times News Agent, a portion of which is retained by said agent. The Erie Times News fines each specific contract carrier for all complaints received from that carriers customers. The current fines are $2 for weekly and $5 for Sunday complaints per instance. The Times News retains the funds and forwards the complaint to the carrier to be corrected. This can be prevented if customers call their local carriers if outside the Erie city limits.