| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Cox Enterprises |
| Publisher | Edwina Blackwell Clark |
| Editor | Kira Lisa Warren |
| Founded | January 12, 1857 (as the Western Journal) |
| Headquarters | 1 North Main St. Middletown, OH 45044 United States |
| Official website | MiddletownJournal.com |
The Middletown Journal is a morning newspaper published in Middletown, Ohio, United States seven days a week by Cox Communications. The paper is printed at Cox's plant in Franklin, Ohio, and distributed in Butler and Warren Counties. It has a paid circulation of about 20,000.
The paper was first published January 12, 1857, as the Western Journal, a weekly paper issued on Thursday mornings, by C.H. Brock, a Middletown grocer. The name was changed to the Middletown Journal in 1859. Publication was suspended during the American Civil War, but resumed by 1871, when Brock sold the paper to E.T. Hardraker. The paper went through a series of owners, including George H. McKee and James L. Raymond. In 1880, W.H. Todhunter acquired the paper and made it a Republican journal. Todhunter began daily publication of the paper in 1890. The first Sunday edition was published on September 4, 1921. In 1924, the paper was purchased by Chew Publications, the owner of the Xenia Gazette.
In 1928, the paper purchased the other daily in Middletown, the Middletown News-Signal. The Journal was published as an evening paper chiefly distributed in the city and the News-Signal operated as a morning paper distributed to outlying areas. The two papers published a combined Sunday edition, the Sunday News-Journal. Chew owned the paper until 1978, when the company merged with the Thomson Corporation, the Canadian newspaper giant. When Thomson decided to exit the newspaper business, it reached a deal to sell the Journal, the Hamilton JournalNews, and several weekly papers in southwest Ohio to Gannett, the parent of The Cincinnati Enquirer. However, Cox Communications, the parent of the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News-Sun, had an option on Thomson's properties and the papers were instead sold to Cox. The sale was completed September 2, 2000.
In 2005, the publisher was Ann Hoffman, who replaced Edwina Blackwell Clark, and the editor was M. David Goodwin. Goodwin, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, became editor August 18, 2003. In 2006, Kira Lisa Warren, the JournalNews editor, replaced Goodwin, who became managing editor for presentation for Cox Ohio Publishing in Dayton.
In February 2008, Hoffman was named publisher of The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City, one of three Cox-owned dailies in North Carolina. In March 2008, Blackwell Clark was named publisher of Cox Ohio Publishing’s Southwest Group, which includes the Journal and the JournalNews of Hamilton. Blackwell Clark most recently served as senior vice president of audience for Cox Ohio Publishing in Dayton.
The Journal has been known for its award-winning coverage in print and online and its sports section earned best daily sports section in Ohio for 2005 and 2006.