St. Paul Pioneer Press

{{short description|Newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Pioneer Press | image = 225px|border | caption = The July 27, 2005, front page<br />of the ''Pioneer Press'' | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = 1849 | owner = Digital First Media (Alden Global Capital) | publisher = Greg Mazanec | circulation = 90,615 Thursday<br/>137,068 Sunday | circulation_date = 2020 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Minnesota Newspaper Directory 2024 |url=https://mna.org/assets/2024/03/MNADirectoryMar2024.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315022205/https://mna.org/assets/2024/03/MNADirectoryMar2024.pdf |archive-date=March 15, 2024 |access-date=March 28, 2024 |website=Minnesota Newspaper Association }}</ref> | headquarters = 10 River Park Plaza, 7th Floor<br />Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101<br />USA | editor = Mike Burbach | website = {{URL|twincities.com}} | ISSN = 0892-1083 | oclc = 48259426 }}

The '''''St. Paul Pioneer Press''''' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County, Minnesota. The paper's main rival is the ''Star Tribune'', based in neighboring Minneapolis. The ''Pioneer Press'' is owned by MediaNews Group, controlled by Alden Global Capital.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uren |first=Adam |date=February 5, 2020 |title=Notorious hedge fund buys Minnesota media group and its 11 newspapers |url=https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/notorious-hedge-fund-that-owns-the-pioneer-press-buys-minnesota-media-group-and-its-11-newspapers |access-date=4 December 2023 |website=Bring Me The News |language=en }}</ref> It no longer includes "St. Paul" as part of its name in either its print or online edition, but its owner still lists the paper's name as the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.medianewsgroup.com/our-brands/ |title=Our Brands |website=medianewsgroup |access-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-date=May 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220530215814/https://www.medianewsgroup.com/our-brands/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the paper also calls itself the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' on its Facebook<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/pg/PioneerPress/about/ |title=About Pioneer Press |website=Facebook |access-date=January 24, 2020 }}</ref> and Twitter pages. Its URL and digital presence is TwinCities.com.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/PioneerPress |title=PioneerPress |website=Twitter |access-date=January 24, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2003058061/ |title=About the Pioneer Press |website=Chronicling America |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124193639/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2003058061/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History== [[File:St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press 8-12-1945.jpg|thumb|left|A ''St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press'' front page dated August 12, 1945, featuring the first publication of the mushroom cloud during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.]] The ''Pioneer Press'' traces its history to both the ''Minnesota Pioneer'', Minnesota's first daily newspaper (founded in 1849 by James M. Goodhue), and the ''Saint Paul Dispatch'' (launched in 1868). Ridder Publications acquired the ''Pioneer'' and the ''Dispatch'' in 1927. Ridder merged with Knight Publications to form Knight Ridder in 1974. The two papers were operated for many years as separate morning and evening papers, but in 1985 were merged into the all-day publication the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch'', which later dropped the "and" from "and Dispatch" in 1986, simply becoming the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch''. The publication eventually made the transition to a morning-only paper, and on March 26, 1990, the word "Dispatch" was dropped. The paper is sometimes called the "Pi Press", just as "Strib" is used for the ''Star Tribune''.

During World War II the paper had war correspondents in the field. There were 30 correspondents from various papers at Iwo Jima, including A.J. Crocker of the Pioneer Press.<ref>Appendix 10, Annex Charlie, VACLF Special Action Report, Iwo Jima Campaign, Eight Marine Field Depot April 1945, p.61 [https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll8/id/822/rec/6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606001740/https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll8/id/822/rec/6|date=June 6, 2021}}</ref>

From 1947 to 1949, the newspaper printed the comic strip ''Li'l Folks'', by Twin Cities native Charles M. Schulz. This comic introduced a number of characters who would later return in 1950 in the syndicated comic strip ''Peanuts'', including Charlie Brown and a dog strongly resembling Snoopy.

In 1952, the ''Dispatch'' began sponsoring a treasure hunt as part of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival. Clues to finding a medallion are printed in the paper, and the first person to find and return it with the clues and a registered carnival button wins a sum of money. The prize started off at $1,000 and as of 2004 rose to $10,000.

The paper has won three Pulitzer Prizes: in 1986, 1988, and 2000.

On March 10, 1999, the day before the University of Minnesota men's basketball team was to begin play in the NCAA Tournament, the ''Pioneer Press'' published a story written by George Dohrmann with allegations that a staffer wrote coursework for many Minnesota basketball players within the past five years.<ref name="Dohrmann-1999">{{cite web |last=Dohrmann |first=George |title=U basketball program accused of academic fraud |work=St. Paul Pioneer Press |date=March 10, 1999 |url=http://www.pioneerplanet.com/uofm/docs/0310gophers.htm |access-date=May 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011230153823/http://www.pioneerplanet.com/uofm/docs/0310gophers.htm |archive-date=December 30, 2001 }}</ref> Immediately, Minnesota suspended four players suspected of academic fraud, and in 2000, the NCAA vacated all postseason appearances by Minnesota from 1994 to 1998 and docked scholarships for four years, among other penalties.<ref name="Drape-2000">{{cite web |last1=Drape |first1=Joe |title=COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Minnesota Penalized by N.C.A.A. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/25/sports/college-basketball-minnesota-penalized-by-ncaa.html |website=New York Times |access-date=June 25, 2014 |date=October 25, 2000 |archive-date=December 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217094137/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/25/sports/college-basketball-minnesota-penalized-by-ncaa.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dohrmann would win a Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting in 2000 for his reports on the scandal.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2000 Pulitzer Prize Winners, Beat Reporting Citation |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2000-Beat-Reporting |publisher=Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=June 25, 2014 }}</ref> Dohrmann and his editor prepared for hostile reactions to the newspaper from the local community.<ref name="Overholser-2003">{{cite web |author=Overholser, Geneva |title=Minnesota's basketball cheating scandal |url=http://journalism.org/resources/education/case_studies/minnesota.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030124202859/http://journalism.org/resources/education/case_studies/minnesota.asp |archive-date=January 24, 2003 |date=2003 |publisher=Project for Excellence in Journalism }}</ref> Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura accused the ''Pioneer Press'' of timing the article to be published around NCAA Tournament time for the sake of "sensationalism journalism", and the ''Pioneer Press'' got many hostile calls and letters in response to the story.<ref name="Robertson-1999">{{cite web |url=http://ajrarchive.org/article.asp?id=580 |title=Body slam |author=Robertson, Lori |work=American Journalism Review |date=May 1999 |access-date=June 25, 2014 }}</ref>

In 2004 the ''Pioneer Press'' made news itself. The great-great-grandson of George Thompson, a former owner/editor of the paper, took a 1914 pocket watch of his grandfather's to the Antiques Roadshow when it came to St. Paul.<ref name="Gould"/> There he learned it was not ordinary, with an estimated value of $250,000. Afterward, the grandson sent the watch to Sotheby's, where it sold for $1.5 million.<ref name="Gould"/> The ''Pioneer Press'' Patek Philippe is on display at the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.<ref name="Gould">One Complicated Patek Philippe Pocket Watch from the US Antiques Roadshow in 2004, NICK GOULD, January 3, 2017, Depolyant website [https://deployant.com/one-complicated-patek-philippe-watch-from-the-us-antiques-roadshow-in-2004/]</ref> In 2020 the show updated its appraisal of the watch's value to $2–3 million.

The McClatchy Company acquired the paper in June 2006 when it bought Knight Ridder. As owner of the ''Star Tribune,'' McClatchy had to sell the ''Pioneer Press'' because of antitrust concerns.<ref>[http://www.medianewsgroup.com/companynews/2006/McClatch%20MNG%20Release.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526083950/http://www.medianewsgroup.com/companynews/2006/McClatch%20MNG%20Release.pdf|date=May 26, 2006}}</ref> The ''Pioneer Press'' was subsequently sold by McClatchy to MediaNews Group later in the year.

The hedge fund Alden Global Capital now owns a controlling share of the ''Pioneer Press''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.startribune.com/lawsuit-calls-out-the-pioneer-press-owner-for-its-tactics/476890003/ |title=Lawsuit calls out Pioneer Press owner for its tactics |work=Star Tribune |access-date=2 May 2018 }}</ref> In its operating year of 2017, ''The Pioneer Press'' under Alden announced a profit of $10 million with a 13% operating margin after Alden cut the newspaper's workforce to around 60 people. Alden has faced notable criticism for this from editorial staff of ''The Denver Post''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/05/big-profits-at-pioneer-press-as-corporate-parent-destroys-it/ |title=Big profits at Pioneer Press as corporate parent destroys it |last=Collins |first=Bob |work=NewsCut |access-date=2 May 2018 |language=en-US }}</ref>

In 2006 the ''Pioneer Press'' had 206 reporters, copy-editors, and editors who were members of a union. By September 2023, that number had dropped to 29.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Boller |first1=Jay |title=A Vampiric Hedge Fund Is Eating the Pioneer Press Alive |url=https://racketmn.com/alden-capital-vampiric-hedge-fund-st-paul-pioneer-press |access-date=December 2, 2023 |work=Racket |date=November 15, 2023 |language=en }}</ref>

In 2025, the ''Pioneer Press'' indicated it would join the ''Star Tribune'' and outsource printing the paper to a plant in Iowa in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Platt |first=Adam |date=2025-09-10 |title=Strib to Shutter Print Facility |url=https://tcbmag.com/strib-to-shutter-print-facility/ |access-date=2025-12-05 |website=Twin Cities Business |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Notable journalists == * Joseph H. Ball, who was a columnist for the ''Pioneer Press'' before becoming a Republican U.S. Senator for Minnesota * Jacqui Banaszynski, writer, editor and winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. * Jim Caple * Nick Coleman * George Dohrmann, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting, for stories about the University of Minnesota basketball scandal. * Dick Gordon * Herb Greenberg * Deborah Howell, executive editor and vice president who died in 2010. * Mark Kellogg, the first Associated Press correspondent to die in the line of duty when he was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. * Katherine Lanpher, columnist and later co-host of ''The Al Franken Show'' * James Lileks * Robert Ridder, former reporter, later a director for Knight Ridder.<ref name="Tribune Democrat-2000">{{cite news |title=Media mogul was owner of hockey team |newspaper=Tribune Democrat |location=Johnstown, Pennsylvania |date=June 26, 2000 |page=21 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-jun-26-2000-862370/ |archive-date=November 20, 2018 |access-date=October 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120032459/https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-jun-26-2000-862370/ |url-status=live }}{{free access }}</ref> * Don Riley, sportswriter * Jim Romenesko, Internet reporter for the ''Pioneer Press'' from 1996 to 1999, now blogger at JimRomenesko.com * John Sandford/John Camp, author of the ''Prey'' series of crime novels and winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. * Joe Soucheray, general columnist and host of the KSTP afternoon program, Garage Logic. * Charley Walters, sports columnist

==Gallery== <gallery> File:JamesMGoodhue1850.jpg|James. M. Goodhue File:TR-Enviro.JPG|1908 US editorial cartoon on Theodore Roosevelt and conservation File:Pioneer & Endicott Buildings 2014.jpg|Pioneer Press building File:Pioneer Building main entrance.jpg|Pioneer Press building main entrance </gallery>

==See also== {{Portal|United States|Journalism}} * List of newspapers in Minnesota * Defunct newspapers of Minnesota

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * {{Official website|https://www.twincities.com/ }}

Category:Knight Ridder publications Category:Newspapers published in Minnesota Category:MediaNews Group publications Category:Mass media in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Category:Newspapers established in 1849 Category:1849 establishments in Minnesota Territory Category:Newspapers published in Minneapolis–Saint Paul