{{Short description|Newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Virginian-Pilot | logo = The Virginian-Pilot Logo.svg | image = File:Front page of The Virginian-Pilot, November 6, 2025.jpg | caption = The November 6, 2025 front page of ''The Virginian-Pilot'' | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = 1865 | ceased_publication = | owners = Tribune Publishing | publisher = Par Ridder (Interim General Manager) | editor = Kris Worrell | circulation = 58,196 Daily<br/> 54,880 Saturday<br/> 71,020 Sunday | headquarters = 703 Mariners Row<br>Newport News, VA 23606 | ISSN = 0889-6127 | website = {{URL|https://www.pilotonline.com}} | founder = Samuel Slover | circulation_date = 2021 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 Virginia Press Virginia Press Directory |url=https://www.vpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-VPA-Membership-Directory.pdf |access-date=April 24, 2023 |website=vpa.net}}</ref> }}
'''''The Virginian-Pilot''''' is the daily newspaper for Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. It was a locally owned, family enterprise from its founding in 1865 at the close of the American Civil War<ref>[http://mypilotmedia.com/aboutus "The Virginian-Pilot"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404130953/http://mypilotmedia.com/aboutus |date=April 4, 2017 }}. Retrieved April 3, 2017.</ref> until its sale to Tribune Publishing in 2018.<ref name="x894">{{cite web | last=Sauers | first=Elisha | last2=Pierceall | first2=Kimberly | last3=Sidersky | first3=Robyn | title=After more than a century, Norfolk family sells The Virginian-Pilot for $34 million | website=The Virginian-Pilot | date=May 29, 2018 | url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2018/05/29/after-more-than-a-century-norfolk-family-sells-the-virginian-pilot-for-34-million/ | access-date=March 9, 2025}}</ref> Its headquarters is in Newport News, and prior to 2020 was in Norfolk.
The ''Virginian-Pilot'' is owned by parent company Tribune Publishing. This company was acquired by Alden Global Capital, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media, in May 2021.<ref name="closedsale">{{cite news |last1=Roeder |first1=David |title=Chicago Tribune staff gets buyout offers as Alden takes over |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/2021/5/26/22455776/chicago-tribune-staff-gets-buyout-offers-as-alden-takes-over |access-date=June 2, 2021 |agency=Chicago Sun Times |date=May 26, 2021}}</ref><ref name="nprsale">{{cite news |last1=Folkenflik |first1=David |title='Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/998730863/vulture-fund-alden-global-known-for-slashing-newsrooms-buys-tribune-papers |access-date=May 21, 2021 |publisher=NPR |date=May 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name="tribnodeal">{{cite news |last1=Chicago Tribune Staff |title=Tribune Publishing ends discussions with Maryland hotel executive, moving forward with hedge fund Alden's bid for newspaper chain |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-tribune-publishing-alden-sale-20210419-uqlp6yjxvbdhlkd2yjanh6thre-story.html |access-date=April 20, 2021 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=April 19, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tracy |first1=Marc |title=Hedge Fund Reaches a Deal to Buy Tribune Publishing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/business/media/alden-tribune-newspaper-sale.html |access-date=February 17, 2021 |work=New York Times |date=February 16, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Feder |first1=Robert |title='Sad, sobering day' for Chicago Tribune as Alden wins takeover bid |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2021/05/21/sad-sobering-day-chicago-tribune-alden-wins-takeover-bid/ |access-date=May 23, 2021 |date=May 21, 2021}}</ref>
==Pulitzer Prizes== The newspaper has won three Pulitzer Prizes. The first was won in 1929 by editor Louis Jaffe, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for "An Unspeakable Act of Savagery", an editorial which condemned lynching. Jaffe mentored the paper's next editor, Lenoir Chambers, who in 1960 received the same prize for his editorials on desegregation, as exemplified by "The Year Virginia Closed the Schools" and "The Year Virginia Opened the Schools". The paper was one of the few in Virginia to publicly support the end of Jim Crow. In 1985, Thomas Turcol was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting for his coverage of corruption in Chesapeake.<ref name="pilotonline.com">{{cite web |last1=Poulter |first1=Amy |title=Virginian-Pilot reporter Tim Eberly named Pulitzer Prize finalist |url=https://pilotonline.com/news/local/from-pilot/article_ca9853f2-41c6-11e8-8fb8-ab33c5190294.html |website=PilotOnline.com |publisher=The Virginian-Pilot |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref> Reporters at ''The Pilot'' have also finished as Pulitzer finalists three times since 2007.<ref name="pilotonline.com"/>
==History== ''The Virginian-Pilot'' and its sister afternoon edition, the ''Ledger-Star'' (which ceased publication in 1995) were created by Samuel L. Slover as the result of several mergers of papers dating back to 1865.<ref name=MediaHistory>Hays, Jakon, and Maureen Watts, [http://mypilotmedia.com/pilotmediahistory "Pilot Media History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402175016/http://www.mypilotmedia.com/pilotmediahistory |date=April 2, 2016 }}. Retrieved April 3, 2017.</ref> ''The Virginian-Pilot'' covered the Wright brothers' early flights.<ref>"The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough</ref> Slover's nephew Frank Batten Sr. became publisher at age 27 in 1954. He expanded the ''Virginian-Pilot''{{'}}s parent company, which soon evolved into Landmark Communications and later Landmark Media Enterprises, by acquiring other newspapers and radio and television stations and by creating The Weather Channel, now owned by a group of investors led by NBC Universal.<ref name=MediaHistory/> In Norfolk, on September 1, 1923, the company founded Virginia's first radio station, WTAR.<ref name=bc043051>{{cite news|title=WTAR-TV Marks Its First Year|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/51-OCR/1951-04-30-BC-OCR-Page-0062.pdf|access-date=March 26, 2018|work=Broadcasting|date=April 30, 1951|page=62}}</ref> In 1950 it added Channel 4 WTAR-TV (now Channel 3 WTKR) and in 1961, it signed on 95.7 WTAR-FM (now WVKL).
The paper was among the first available online as a part of the Compuserve experiment in early 1980s where the paper and 10 others around the country transmitted text versions of stories daily to Compuserve's host computers in Ohio.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ferrarini|first=Elizabeth M.|title=The Electronic Newspaper: Fact or Fetish|year=1982|pages=45–57}}</ref>
Frank Batten Jr. became publisher in 1991 and expanded on digitizing the paper. In 1993 ''The Virginian-Pilot'' was one of the first newspapers in the country to launch a sister website, Pilotonline.com.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hays|first1=Jakon|last2=Watts|first2= Maureen |title=Pilot Media History|work=My Pilot Media |url=http://mypilotmedia.com/pilotmediahistory|publisher=Pilot Media|access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref> Batten Jr. stepped down as the paper's publisher, becoming Landmark Communications' Chairman and CEO. "Dee" Carpenter became publisher in 1995, followed by Bruce Bradley in 2005, Maurice Jones in 2008, David Mele in 2012 and Patricia Richardson in 2014. The paper published a podcast in 2017. [https://pilotonline.com/news/media/audio/the-shot/ The Shot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110225053/https://pilotonline.com/news/media/audio/the-shot/ |date=November 10, 2017 }} was created by reporters Gary Harki and Joanne Kimberlin and dealt with the unsolved 2010 murder of Norfolk police officer Victor Decker.
After ''The Pilot'' was sold to Tronc in 2018, no new publisher was named. Marisa Porto was named the newspaper's editor,<ref name="The Virginian-Pilot">{{cite web |last1=Sauers |first1=Elisha |title=Pilot Media History |url=https://pilotonline.com/business/article_194c53b0-7014-11e8-8c3c-cb61e4af7db0.html |website=Pilotonline.com |date=June 14, 2018 |publisher=The Virginian-Pilot |access-date=August 28, 2018}}</ref> but she left the next year.<ref name="Editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Dai">{{cite web |last1=Pierceall |first1=Kimberly |title="Editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Daily Press leaves amid restructuring"|url=https://pilotonline.com/business/jobs/article_303d48f8-4c15-11e9-936c-0b999eb85663.html |website=PilotOnline.com |date=March 21, 2019 |publisher=The Virginian-Pilot |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref> Interim General Manager Par Ridder said a search would begin for a new editor for the newsroom and a new general manager to oversee the business side of the newspaper.<ref name="Editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Dai"/>
Kris Worrell was named by Ridder as ''The Pilot''{{'}}s editor on July 22, 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pilotonline.com/business/jobs/article_dbc08a2a-ac94-11e9-8694-cb800894a413.html|title=New top editor for Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press named, and she has ties to Hampton Roads|last=Adhikusuma|first=Briana|website=Virginian-Pilot|date=July 22, 2019 |language=en|access-date=August 2, 2019}}</ref> She had previously been the executive editor of ''The Press of Atlantic City''. Worrell graduated from Kempsville High in Virginia Beach and worked previously both for ''The Pilot'' and the ''Daily Press''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-nws-tribune-names-editor-virginia-media-20190722-story.html|title=New top editor for Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press named, and she has ties to Hampton Roads|last=Adhikusuma|first=Briana|website=dailypress.com|date=July 22, 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=August 2, 2019}}</ref>
==Offices and corporate== thumb|Pilot Place, the former headquarters The paper's offices are shared with its sister paper, the ''Daily Press'' and are located at 703 Mariners Row, Newport News, VA 23606.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2020-Membership-Directory.pdf|title=Virginia Press Directory|year=2020|publisher=Virginia Press Association|place=Glen Allen, Virginia|page=10 (PDF p. 12/52)|quote=Daily Press 703 Mariners Row Newport News, VA 23606[...]The Virginian-Pilot 703 Mariners Row Newport News, VA 23606}}</ref> It is in the City Center at Oyster Point complex.<ref name=Pierceallmoving>{{cite web|last=Pierceall|first=Kimberly|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2020/02/18/the-virginian-pilot-to-move-headquarters-to-newport-news/|title=The Virginian-Pilot to move headquarters to Newport News |newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot|date=February 18, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> Both papers are owned by Tribune Publishing.
Beginning circa 1937<!--2020-83= 1937-->, the headquarters were in Norfolk.<ref name=Pierceallmoving/> In 2020, the newspaper moved,<ref>{{cite web|last=Worrell|first=Kris|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2020/02/23/the-virginian-pilots-offices-are-moving-but-its-commitment-to-hampton-roads-is-staying/|title=The Virginian-Pilot's offices are moving, but its commitment to Hampton Roads is staying |newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot|date=February 23, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}} - [https://local.pilotonline.com/norfolk-va/the-virginian-pilot-757-446-9000 The old address]: "150 W Brambleton Ave Norfolk, VA 23510"</ref> as Monument Companies bought the Norfolk complex for $9,500,000.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pierceall|first=Kimberly|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2020/01/23/the-virginian-pilot-building-in-norfolk-sold-to-monument-cos-for-95-million/|title=The Virginian-Pilot building in Norfolk sold to Monument Cos. for $9.5 million |newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot|date=January 23, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> This complex became Pilot Place, an apartment complex.<ref>{{cite web|last=Metcalfe|first=Trevor|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2022/04/24/a-look-inside-the-former-virginian-pilot-newsroom-as-developers-invest-millions-in-downtown-norfolk-apartment-projects/|title=A look inside the former Virginian-Pilot newsroom as developers invest millions in downtown Norfolk apartment projects |newspaper=The Virginian-Pilot|date=April 24, 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> The new headquarters in Newport News was already the offices of the ''Daily Press'', which was the lessee.<ref name=Pierceallmoving/>
==Sale to Tribune Publishing== On May 29, 2018, ''The Virginian-Pilot'' was purchased by Chicago-based media conglomerate Tribune Publishing, formerly known as Tronc, for a cash price of $34 million. The deal included the ''Pilot'' and all of its "outstanding interests" — including its subsidiary publications, the paper's Norfolk headquarters and its printing plant in Virginia Beach.<ref name=troncSalePR>{{Cite web|url=http://investor.tribpub.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=254385&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2350996|title=Tribune Publishing | News Release|website=investor.tribpub.com|access-date=February 5, 2019}}</ref>
==See also==
==References== <references/>
==External links== *[https://www.pilotonline.com The Virginian-Pilot]
{{Tronc}} {{VirginiaDailyPapers}} {{Newport News, Virginia}} {{Norfolk, Virginia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginian-Pilot, The}} Category:Daily newspapers published in Virginia Category:Mass media in Norfolk, Virginia<!--In Norfolk prior to 2020--> Category:Mass media in Newport News, Virginia Category:Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Category:Newspapers established in 1869 Category:1869 establishments in Virginia Category:Newspapers published in Virginia