{{Short description|American daily newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky}} {{Distinguish|Journal & Courier|Journal-Courier}} {{For-text|the Oxford newspaper previously known by this name|Oxford Journal|the newspaper in Alabama|Florence, Alabama § Media}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2016}} {{Use American English|date=August 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Courier-Journal | image = 225px|border | caption = The July 27, 2005 front page<br />of ''The Courier-Journal'' | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | political_position = Whig (formerly) | founded = {{start date and age|1868|11|8}} | ceased_publication = | owners = USA Today Co. | president = Eddie Tyner | editor = Mary Irby-Jones | circulation = {{ublist|29,818 daily|40,898 Sunday}} | circulation_date = Q3 2022 | circulation_ref = <ref name="Gannet's 10-K annual filing">{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1579684/000157968423000014/gci-20221231.htm |title=Form 10-K |author=Gannett |website=Securities & Exchange Commission |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310144149/https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1579684/000157968423000014/gci-20221231.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NL2023">{{cite news |last1=Benton |first1=Joshua |title=The scale of local news destruction in Gannett's markets is astonishing |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/03/the-scale-of-local-news-destruction-in-gannetts-markets-is-astonishing/ |work=Nieman Lab |date=March 9, 2023 |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310142906/https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/03/the-scale-of-local-news-destruction-in-gannetts-markets-is-astonishing/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | headquarters = 525 West Broadway<br />Louisville, Kentucky 40201<br />{{USA}} | ISSN = 1930-2177 | website = {{URL|https://www.courier-journal.com/|courier-journal.com}} }}
The '''''Courier Journal''''',<!-- See Talk page discussion. There was a renaming on October 30, 2017. --> also known as the '''''Louisville Courier Journal'''''<!-- As of June 2019, the byline of its published articles says "Louisville Courier Journal" (without "The" and without a hyphen) --> (and informally '''''The C-J''''' or '''''The Courier'''''), and called '''''The Courier-Journal''''' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in Louisville, Kentucky, and owned by USA Today Co., which bills it as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Network".
It is the newspaper with the highest number of recorded circulation in Kentucky.<ref>{{cite news |last=Conley |first=Julia |date=June 11, 2020 |title=Kentucky's largest newspaper endorses progressive Charles Booker in Senate race. "Frankly, it's time to shake up the establishment," the Courier-Journal's editorial board writes |url=https://www.salon.com/2020/06/11/kentuckys-largest-newspaper-endorses-progressive-charles-booker-in-senate-race_partner/ |website=Salon |access-date=March 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310101527/https://www.salon.com/2020/06/11/kentuckys-largest-newspaper-endorses-progressive-charles-booker-in-senate-race_partner/ |archive-date=March 10, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kessler |first=Martin |date=May 15, 2020 |title='You're Not Going To Marry The NBA, Are You?' The Dating Woes Of A Beat Writer |url=https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2020/05/15/adam-himmelsbach-boston-globe-dating-covid |publisher=WBUR-FM |access-date=March 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531021651/https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2020/05/15/adam-himmelsbach-boston-globe-dating-covid |archive-date=May 31, 2020 }}</ref> According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paper is the 48th-largest daily paper in the United States.{{update inline|date=June 2019|reason=1999 was 10 years ago.}}
==History==
===Origins=== ''The Courier-Journal'' was created from the merger of several newspapers introduced in Kentucky in the 19th century.
A pioneer paper called ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature'' was founded in 1826 in Louisville when the city was an early settlement of less than 7,000 individuals. In 1830 a new newspaper, ''The Louisville Daily Journal'', began distribution in the city and, in 1832, the ''Journal'' absorbed ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature''. The Louisville ''Journal'' was an organ of the Whig Party and was founded and edited by George D. Prentice, a New Englander who initially came to Kentucky to write a biography of Henry Clay.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=23375897|last=Congleton|first=Betty Carolyn|title=The Louisville Journal: Its Origin and Early Years |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |volume=62|issue=2|pages=87–88|date=April 1964}}</ref> Prentice edited the ''Journal'' for more than 40 years.
In 1844, another newspaper, the ''Louisville Morning Courier'', was founded in Louisville by Walter Newman Haldeman. ''The Louisville Daily Journal'' and the ''Louisville Morning Courier'' were leading newspapers in Louisville and were politically opposed throughout the Civil War; ''The Journal'' was against slavery while the ''Courier'' was pro-Confederacy. The ''Courier'' was suppressed by the Union and had to move to Nashville, but it returned to Louisville after the war.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Upon the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the Confederate states, the ''Journal'' opposed the Proclamation as an unconstitutional use of presidential power, and predicted: "Kentucky cannot and will not acquiesce in this measure. Never!"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZxOJarwChkC&pg=PA105|title=Fighting Words: An Illustrated History of Newspaper Accounts of the Civil War|last=Coopersmith|first=Andrew S.|place=New York|publisher=The New Press|year=2004|isbn=1-56584-796-2|pages=105–106|access-date=September 8, 2021|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319081527/https://books.google.com/books?id=HZxOJarwChkC&pg=PA105|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Progress and Intelligence of Americans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jdcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA65|last=Wheat|first=M.T.|edition=2nd|year=1862|place=Louisville|pages=65–68|access-date=September 8, 2021|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319081528/https://books.google.com/books?id=9jdcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1868, an ailing Prentice persuaded the 28-year-old Henry Watterson to come edit for the ''Journal''. During secret negotiations in 1868, ''The Journal'' and the ''Courier'' merged, and the first edition of ''The Courier-Journal'' was delivered to Louisvillians on Sunday morning, November 8, 1868.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
===Watterson era=== thumb|Editorial staff of ''The Courier-Journal'', 1868 Henry Watterson, the son of a Tennessee congressman, had written for ''Harper's Magazine'' and ''The'' ''New York Times'' before enlisting in the Confederate Army. He became nationally known for his work as ''The Courier-Journal'' emerged as the region's leading paper. He supported the Democratic Party and pushed for the industrialization of Kentucky and the South in general, notably through urging the Southern Exposition be held in Louisville. He attracted controversy for attempting to prove that Christopher Marlowe had actually written the works of Shakespeare. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1917 for editorials demanding the United States enter World War I.<ref name="presshist">{{cite book|title=The Press of Kentucky: 1787–1994|year=1994|author=Towles, Donald B.|publisher=Kentucky Press Association|asin=B0006P81OQ}}</ref>
''The Courier-Journal'' founded a companion afternoon edition of the paper, ''The Louisville Times'', in May 1884. In 1896, Watterson and Haldeman opposed Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan over his support of free silver coinage. This unpopular decision upset readers and advertisers, many of whom pulled their support for ''The Courier-Journal''. Kentucky voted for the Republican candidate in 1896, the first time in state history, and local political leaders blamed the Courier. Only the popularity of ''The Louisville Times'', which had no strong editorial reputation, saved the newspaper company from bankruptcy. The ''Courier'' supported Bryan in future elections.<ref name="presshist" />
Haldeman had owned the papers until his death in 1902, and by 1917 they were owned by his son, William, and Henry Watterson.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
===Bingham ownership=== thumb|right|250px|''Courier-Journal'' offices in downtown Louisville, built during the Bingham era
On August 8, 1918, Robert Worth Bingham purchased two-thirds interest in the newspapers and acquired the remaining stock in 1920. The liberal Bingham clashed with longtime editor Watterson, who remained on board, but was in the twilight of his career. Watterson's editorials opposing the League of Nations appeared alongside Bingham's favoring it, and Watterson finally retired on April 2, 1919.<ref name="presshist" />
{{Blockquote|I have always regarded the newspapers owned by me as a public trust and have endeavored so to conduct them as to render the greatest public service.|Robert Worth Bingham}}
As publisher, Bingham set the tone for his editorial pages, and pushed for improved public education, support of African Americans and the poor of Appalachia. In 1933, the newspapers passed to his son, Barry Bingham, Sr. Barry Bingham would continue in his father's footsteps, guiding the editorial page and modernizing the paper by setting up several news bureaus throughout the state, expanding the news staff. During Barry Bingham, Sr.'s tenure, the paper was considered Kentucky's "Newspaper of Record" and consistently ranked among the 10 best in the nation.<ref name="presshist" />
In 1971, Barry Bingham, Jr. succeeded his father as the newspapers' editor and publisher.
The Binghams were well-liked owners popularly credited with being more concerned with publishing quality journalism than making heavy profits. They also owned the leading local radio and television stations – WHAS-TV, WHAS-AM, and WAMZ-FM—and Standard Gravure, a rotogravure printing company that printed ''The Courier-Journal''{{'s}} Sunday ''Magazine'' as well as similar magazines for other newspapers.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Barry Bingham Jr. sought to free the papers from conflicts of interests, and through ''The Louisville Times'', experimented with new ideas such as signed editorials. Bingham Jr. also parted with tradition by endorsing several Republican candidates for office.<ref name="presshist" />
In 1974, Carol Sutton became managing editor of ''The Courier-Journal'', the first woman appointed to such a post at a major US daily newspaper. Under the leadership of C. Thomas Hardin, director of photography, the combined photography staff of ''The Courier-Journal and Louisville Times'' was awarded the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for its coverage of school desegregation in Louisville.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Barry Bingham, Jr. served as editor and publisher until he resigned in 1986, shortly after his father announced that the newspaper company was for sale, in large measure because of disagreements between Bingham Jr. and his sister Sallie.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
===Gannett ownership=== {{update section|date=March 2017}} thumb|200px|A Courier Journal dispenser On January 8, 1986, Barry Bingham Sr. announced his intent to sell the family owned media properties including the Courier-Journal.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Tifft |first1=Susan E. |last2=Jones |first2=Alex S. |title=The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty |date=1991 |publisher=Summit Books |isbn=0-671-63167-5 |oclc=22707966}}</ref> In July 1986, Gannett Company, Inc. purchased the newspaper company for $300 million, outbidding The Washington Post and the Tribune company.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bingham Family Newspapers Sold to Gannett|url=https://apnews.com/article/58b26571abb7b2d1e68003e1e0b1c94e|access-date=December 16, 2021|website=AP NEWS|language=en|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319080928/https://apnews.com/article/58b26571abb7b2d1e68003e1e0b1c94e|url-status=live}}</ref> Gannett appointed George N. Gill President and Publisher who had been with the newspaper and the Binghams for over two decades. Gill worked his way up from copy editor to chief executive officer of the Bingham Companies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=School of Journalism and Media : George N. Gill|url=https://ci.uky.edu/jam/hall_of_fame/1998/george-n-gill|access-date=December 16, 2021|website=ci.uky.edu|archive-date=December 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216051612/https://ci.uky.edu/jam/hall_of_fame/1998/george-n-gill|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1993, Gill retired and Edward E. Manassah became president and Publisher.<ref>{{cite web|first=Alex|last=Jones|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/us/gannett-gets-louisville-papers-for-300-million.html|title=GANNETT GETS LOUISVILLE PAPERS FOR 300 MILLION|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 20, 1986|access-date=September 8, 2021|archive-date=May 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512162513/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/us/gannett-gets-louisville-papers-for-300-million.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
February 1987 saw the last publication of ''The Louisville Times'', which like most afternoon papers had experienced declining readership; the news operations of the two papers had previously been consolidated under Gannett. The surviving Courier featured a strong news content increase by 29%.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Coulson|first1=David C.|last2=Hansen|first2=Anne|date=March 1995|title=The Louisville Courier-Journal's News Content after Purchase by Gannett|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/107769909507200117|journal=Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly|language=en|volume=72|issue=1|pages=205–215|doi=10.1177/107769909507200117|s2cid=144734353|issn=1077-6990|access-date=December 16, 2021|archive-date=December 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216051616/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/107769909507200117|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In 1989, the paper's news staff won the Pulitzer Prize for general local reporting for what the Pulitzer board called "exemplary initial coverage" of a collision that was the nation's worst drunk-driving crash and school-bus accident. In 2005, cartoonist Nick Anderson won the paper's 10th Pulitzer, but when he left for the ''Houston Chronicle'', the paper did not replace him, instead relying largely on submissions from local cartoonists. One, lawyer Marc Murphy, has become a near-regular and gained respect for his work.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
The newspaper resumed polling on elections, and began video streaming its editorial-board conferences with major candidates, under Publisher Arnold "Arnie" Garson, who came from the Argus Leader, Gannett's paper in Sioux Falls, S.D., in late 2008. Garson is an outspoken promoter of the future of printed newspapers in the digital age. Under him, the paper began keeping occasional major stories or sports columns off its website and promoting them as print exclusives. Most of these have run on Sundays; in July 2009, Garson announced that the paper's Sunday home-delivery circulation was up 0.5 percent over the previous year.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
In March 2022, the ''Courier Journal'' moved to a six-day printing schedule, eliminating its printed Saturday edition.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Changes to Courier Journal Saturday print delivery start this week. How to read online|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2022/03/04/louisville-courier-journal-changes-saturday-print-delivery/9351678002/|website=The Courier-Journal|access-date=2025-12-02|language=en-US|first=Mary|last=Irby-Jones}}</ref>
==Awards==
===Pulitzer Prize===
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Category !! Recipient !! For |- | 1918 || Editorial Writing || Henry Watterson || For his two World War I editorials "War Has Its Compensations" (April 10, 1918), and "Vae Victis!" (May 17, 1918) |- | 1926 || Reporting || William Burke "Skeets" Miller || For his coverage of the attempts to rescue Floyd Collins trapped in Sand Cave,<br />now part of Mammoth Cave National Park (February 1925) |- | 1956 || Editorial Cartooning || Robert York || For his cartoon "Achilles" showing a bulging figure of American prosperity tapering to a weak heel labeled "farm prices". Appeared in ''The Louisville Times'', (September 16, 1955) |- | 1967 || Public Service || ''The Courier-Journal'' || For its "meritorious public service" during 1966 in its fight against the ravages of Kentucky strip mining |- | 1969 || Local General or Spot News Reporting || John Fetterman || For coverage of the funeral for a Vietnam casualty from Kentucky, "Pfc. Gibson Comes Home" (July 28, 1968) |- | 1976 || Feature Photography || ''The Courier-Journal'' and ''The Louisville Times'' || For photo coverage of court-ordered busing in Jefferson County in 1975 |- | 1978 || Local General or Spot News Reporting || Rich Whitt || For his coverage and three months of investigation of the disastrous May 28, 1977, fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Kentucky in Campbell County |- | 1980 || International Reporting || Joel Brinkley and Jay Mather || For international reporting in a series of articles, "Living the Cambodian Nightmare", their vivid account of refugees in Southeast Asia (December 1979) |- | 1989 || General Reporting || ''The Courier-Journal'' || For its exemplary initial coverage of a bus crash in Carroll County, Kentucky that claimed 27 lives and its subsequent thorough and effective examination of the causes and implications of the tragedy (1988) |- | 2005 || Editorial Cartoon || Nick Anderson || For his portfolio of twenty editorial cartoons<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/PulitzerPrize2005/main.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051129224140/http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/PulitzerPrize2005/main.asp |archive-date=November 29, 2005 |title=Nick Anderson- Pulitzer Prize Winner 2005 |access-date=July 30, 2010}}</ref> |- |2020 |Breaking News Reporting |''The Courier-Journal'' |For coverage of outgoing Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's hundreds of pardons.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Here are the winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes|url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2020-pulitzer-prizes/|date=May 4, 2020|website=Poynter|language=en-US|access-date=May 5, 2020|archive-date=July 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723033228/https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2020-pulitzer-prizes/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Courier Journal wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Matt Bevin's controversial pardons|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/05/04/courier-journal-wins-pulitzer-prize-coverage-bevin-pardons/3080365001/|last=Tobin|first=Ben|website=The Courier-Journal|language=en|access-date=May 5, 2020|archive-date=May 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501011234/https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/05/04/courier-journal-wins-pulitzer-prize-coverage-bevin-pardons/3080365001/|url-status=live}}</ref> |}
==Other notable staff== <!-- Please only add staff not already mentioned in the article --> * Herbert Agar, ''Courier-Journal'' editor * Anne and Carl Braden, ''Courier-Journal'' reporters and civil rights activists * Adele Brandeis, ''Courier-Journal'' writer and arts administrator * Samuel C. Brightman, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter and Washington correspondent * Grady Clay, ''Courier-Journal'' urban affairs editor * Byron Crawford, ''Courier-Journal'' columnist * Joe Creason, ''Courier-Journal'' columnist, known for "Joe Creason's Kentucky" column * R. G. Dunlop, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter * Howard Fineman, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter and Washington correspondent * Pat Forde, ''Courier-Journal'' sports columnist * Michael Gartner, ''Courier-Journal'' editor * Kate Harrington, ''Louisville Journal'' reporter * Hugh Haynie, ''Courier-Journal'' political cartoonist * Paul Janensch, ''Courier-Journal'' executive editor * Mike King, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter, editor, Washington correspondent, and medical writer * Alan Levy, ''Courier-Journal'' reporter * Ronni Lundy, ''Courier-Journal'' and ''Louisville Times'' pop music editor * Paul Plaschke, ''Courier-Journal'' and ''Louisville Times'' cartoonist<ref>{{cite book |last=Perry |first=Candace K. |editor-first=John E. |editor-last=Kleber |year=2001 |title=The Encyclopedia of Louisville |chapter=Plaschke, Paul A. |page=708 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-2100-0 |oclc=247857447 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXbYITw4ZesC}}</ref> * Priscilla Robertson, ''Courier-Journal'' literary editor * Harvey Magee Watterson, ''Courier-Journal'' editorial staff, father of the paper's first editor
==See also== {{Portal|Journalism}} * ''Branzburg v. Hayes'' – landmark Supreme Court case involving a ''Courier-Journal'' reporter * ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' – second largest newspaper in Kentucky * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'' (aka ''LEO Weekly'' or ''LEO'') – free urban alternative weekly newspaper * ''News and Tribune'' – six-day daily newspaper serving Clark and Floyd Counties in Southern Indiana * Scripps National Spelling Bee – formerly the National Spelling Bee, organized by ''The Courier-Journal'' in 1925 * ''Velocity'' (2003–2011) – free weekly magazine published by ''The Courier-Journal'' * List of newspapers in Kentucky
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 192–95 * {{cite book|title=The Press of Kentucky: 1787–1994|year=1994|author=Donald B. Towles|publisher=Kentucky Press Association|asin=B0006P81OQ}} * {{cite book|title=Memoirs: 50 Years at the Courier-Journal and other places|author=John Ed Pearce|year=1997|publisher=Sulgrave Press|isbn=1-891138-01-4}} * {{cite book|title=The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty|year=1991|author=Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones|publisher=Summit Books|isbn=9780671631673|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/patriarchrisefal00tiff}}
==External links== {{Commons category|The Courier-Journal}} * {{official website|https://www.courier-journal.com/}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061022100202/http://www.gannett.com/about/map/ataglance/louisvi.htm Gannett subsidiary profile of ''The Courier-Journal''] (archived from November 26, 2018)
{{Gannett}} {{PulitzerPrize BreakingNews 1985–2000}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courier-Journal, The}} Category:Courier Journal Category:Newspapers established in 1868 Category:Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Category:1868 establishments in Kentucky Category:Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Category:USA Today Co. publications