The May 16, 2004 front page of The Buffalo News |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Publisher | Stanford Lipsey |
| Editor | Margaret M. Sullivan |
| Founded | 1880 |
| Headquarters | 1 News Plaza Buffalo, New York 14203 United States |
| Circulation | 181,540 Daily 266,123 Sunday[1] |
| Official website | buffalonews.com |
The Buffalo News is the primary newspaper of the Buffalo – Niagara Falls metropolitan area, and the area's only daily newspaper. It is the only newspaper owned by Berkshire Hathaway.[2]
The News was founded in 1873 by Edward Hubert Butler, Sr. as a Sunday paper.[3] In 1880, the News began publishing daily editions as well, and in 1914, became an inversion of its original existence by publishing Monday through Saturday only, with no publication on Sunday. During most of its life, the News was known as The Buffalo Evening News. A gentleman's agreement between the Evening News and the Buffalo Courier-Express meant that the Evening News would be just that, while the Courier-Express would be a morning-only paper. Until 1977, the News did not publish on Sundays, as per this agreement with the Courier, and its weekend edition appeared on Saturday evening.
In 1977, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchased the Evening News,[2] and began publishing on Saturday and Sunday mornings.[3] After a period of financial decline, the Courier-Express published its last issue on September 19, 1982. That year, the Evening News shortened its name to The Buffalo News and until 2006, published morning and evening editions. On October 1, 2006, the News announced it would abandon its afternoon edition later that month, and publish only a morning issue. Now the newspaper has been profitable every year for the last ten years.
In 2009, Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, called his continued ownership of the newspaper "not totally rational", saying that the industry's practice of giving away its online content when charging for it in print has been a mistake.[2]
The News participates in the Buffalo community and sponsors charitable, social, and educational events. The News also holds an annual Kids' Day newspaper sale in which civic groups sell the morning edition of the newspaper for double the usual price, with all proceeds directed to Buffalo's Children's Hospital.
The newspaper founded and formerly owned the WBEN television and radio stations, which are now WIVB (Channel 4), WBEN (930), WYRK (106.5) and WTSS (102.5), respectively.
Journalists for The Buffalo News and The Buffalo Evening News have won three Pulitzer Prizes. In 1958, Bruce Shanks received the Editorial Cartooning award for his August 10, 1957 piece, "The Thinker," detailing union corruption. In 1961, Edgar May received the Local Reporting award for his series, "Our Costly Dilemma," concerning the need for reform of New York State's welfare system. The series touched off debates about welfare reform nationwide. In 1990, Tom Toles brought the News its second Editorial Cartooning award, for his work throughout the year (although his piece "First Amendment" is often cited as the "exemplary" work that merited the award). (Toles currently serves as an editorial cartoonist with The Washington Post, where he replaced Herblock.) News journalists have been finalists for three other Pulitzer Prizes, but did not win: Toles (1985 and 1996, for Editorial Cartooning) and James Heaney (1993, for Investigative Reporting). Other journalists who won awards include Richard J. Burke a/k/a Dick Burke, who in 1972 won the New York State Associated Press Award for his series of articles about bicycling around Western New York.