The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
published in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
, United States. It is owned by
Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are
Cox Communications
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
,
Cox Automotive
Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications and ...
, and Ohio Newspapers (including the Dayton Daily News).
Headquarters
The Dayton Daily News has its headquarters in the Manhattan Building in downtown Dayton, 601 E. Third St. The newspaper’s editorial and business offices were moved there in January, 2022. For more than 100 years the paper's editorial offices and printing presses were located in downtown Dayton. From 1999 to 2017, the paper was printed at the Print Technology Center near Interstate 75 in Franklin about 15 minutes to the south. In 2017, the Dayton Daily News's parent company came to an agreement with
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.[Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...]
. This resulted in the closure of the Franklin facility.
Ohio Newspapers also publishes two other daily newspapers and websites in Southwest Ohio: ''
Journal-News
The ''Journal-News'' is a daily newspaper published by Cox Enterprises in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. It formed in 2013 from the merger of the '' Hamilton JournalNews'' in Hamilton and '' The Middletown Journal'' in Mi ...
'' (formerly ''
The Middletown Journal
''The Middletown Journal'' was a morning newspaper published in Middletown, Ohio, United States seven days a week by Cox Media Group. The paper was printed at Cox's plant in Franklin, Ohio, and distributed in Butler and Warren Counties. In Sept ...
'' and ''
Hamilton JournalNews
''Hamilton JournalNews'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Hamilton, Ohio, and owned by Cox Media Group. The paper covered news in Hamilton and outlying areas. In September 2013, Cox Media Group Ohio announced that, effective November 1, ...
'') and the ''
Springfield News-Sun
The ''Springfield News-Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Springfield, Ohio, by Cox Enterprises, which also publishes the ''Dayton Daily News''. Both newspapers contain similar editorial content, but tailor their local news coverage to the ar ...
''. Cox First Media also publishes weekly papers ''Today's Pulse'' and ''Oxford Press'', and had published several other weekly papers until CMG Ohio ceased their operations in January 2013, including ''
The Western Star (Ohio)'', formerly the oldest weekly paper published in the state, the ''
Pulse-Journal'' (Mason-Deerfield Township and West Chester-Liberty Township editions) and the ''
Fairfield Echo''.
Merger
In late 2010, Cox Enterprises merged all of its local media holdings under the CMG Ohio brand and consolidated locations to The Media Center. In early 2020, the
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
firm
Apollo Global Management
Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...
purchased Cox Enterprises' radio and TV properties and all Cox Media Group Ohio media entities. In March 2020, Cox Enterprises took back ownership of Ohio Newspapers, which included the Dayton Daily News, Journal-News, Springfield News-Sun, Dayton.com, and related digital brands. As a group they operate under the brand Cox First Media.
History
On August 15, 1898,
James M. Cox
James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...
purchased the ''Dayton Evening News''. One week later, on August 22, 1898 he renamed it the ''Dayton Daily News''.
The paper was founded with the intention of pioneering a new type of journalism, keeping weak ties to politicians and advertisers while seeking objectivity and public advocacy as primary functions. These goals pushed the paper in the direction of valuing the public interest.
A Sunday edition was launched on November 2, 1913. In 1948, Cox purchased two morning papers, ''The Journal'' and ''The Herald'', from the Herrick-Kumler Company. The next year he combined them to form ''The Journal-Herald''.
For the next four decades, ''The Journal-Herald'' was the conservative morning paper, and the ''Dayton Daily News'' (which had a larger circulation) was the liberal evening paper. The papers operated newsrooms on separate floors of the same
building
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...
in downtown Dayton. On September 15, 1986, ''The Journal-Herald'' and the ''Daily News'' were merged to become a morning paper, the ''Dayton Daily News and Journal-Herald'', with both names appearing on the front page. The ''Journal-Herald'' name last appeared on the paper's front-page flag on December 31, 1987.
Cox was the
Democratic Party's candidate for
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
in the election of 1920, and the city of Dayton has voted for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections ever since. Cox's running mate for vice president was
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, who was elected president in 1932.
Recent operations
The paper was led by Jeff Bruce as editor from 1998 to 2008. Bruce replaced Max Jennings, who retired. When Bruce retired in 2007 Kevin Riley, 44, a graduate of the
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...
, was named editor. Riley spent most of his career with the paper, starting as a copy editor and later serving as sports editor, Internet general manager, and publisher of the ''
Springfield News-Sun
The ''Springfield News-Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Springfield, Ohio, by Cox Enterprises, which also publishes the ''Dayton Daily News''. Both newspapers contain similar editorial content, but tailor their local news coverage to the ar ...
'' in
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...
. He was promoted from deputy editor.
In 2010, Riley was named editor of the ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' and that paper's editor, Julia Wallace, under whose leadership the AJC won Pulitzer Prizes in 2006 and 2007, moved to Dayton to become Senior Vice President of news and programming for CMG Ohio heading a new combined newspaper, television and radio newsroom. She was soon after named the first female publisher and retired in 2016. In 2011, Jana Collier was promoted from managing editor to editor-in-chief of CMG Ohio and was responsible for content and operations for all daily and weekly papers. Collier is also the first woman to be editor-in-chief of the Dayton Cox newspaper organization. In March 2020, Jana Collier was named publisher of the newly formed Ohio Newspapers brand. Ashley Bethard became editor and chief content officer in January, 2022.
Notable employees
In 1998, reporters
Russell Carollo and
Jeff Nesmith won the
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for their reporting on dangerous flaws and mismanagement in the military health care system, a series very relevant to its readership because of the presence of
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...
in neighboring
Greene County.
The paper is the home of cartoonist
Mike Peters, who draws the ''
Mother Goose and Grimm
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...
'' strip and won the
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is one of the fourteen Pulitzer Prizes that is annually awarded for journalism in the United States. It is the successor to the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning awarded from 1922 t ...
in 1981, and columnist Dale Huffman, who had written a daily metro column every day for more than eight years before beginning a hiatus on January 30, 2008, after he was diagnosed with
kidney cancer
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include spr ...
.
The following people at some point worked at or wrote for the ''Dayton Daily News'':
*
Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck (''née'' Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. She also published 15 bo ...
(at ''The Journal-Herald'')
*
Si Burick
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. ...
*
Ritter Collett Charles Ritter Collett (June 14, 1921 – September 26, 2001), known as Ritter Collett, was a sports editor and columnist for the ''Dayton Journal-Herald'' and ''Dayton Daily News'' for over 50 years.
Collett, a native of Ironton, Ohio, was the son ...
(at ''The Journal-Herald'')
*
Charlotte Reeve Conover
*
James M. Cox
James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...
*
Bob Englehart (at ''The Journal-Herald'')
*
Clem Hamilton
*
Marj Heyduck
Marj ( ar, المرج, Al Marǧ, The Meadows), also spelt ''El Merj'', generally believed to be on the site of the ancient city of Barca or Barce, is a city in northeastern Libya and the administrative seat of the Marj District. It lies in an ...
(at ''The Journal-Herald'')
*Dale Huffman
*
Hal McCoy
Harold Stanley "Hal" McCoy Jr. (born October 18, 1940 in Akron, Ohio) is an American sportswriter. McCoy was a beat writer for the ''Dayton Daily News'' (Dayton, Ohio), covering the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. He still covers all Reds home game ...
*
Jeff Nesmith
*
Mike Peters
* Tom Archdeacon
*
John Scalzi
John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been nom ...
*
Myron Scott
*
Jim Zofkie
*
Charley Stough III
*
Dann Stupp
Dann Stupp (born in Springfield, Ohio; September 14, 1978) is a sports editor and author who co-founded the popular mixed martial arts website MMAJunkie.com, which USA Today acquired in 2011.
He is currently senior sports editor for The Action N ...
*
Clara Weisenborn (at ''The Journal-Herald'')
*
Roz Young
Rosamond McPherson "Roz" Young (October 4, 1912 – September 18, 2005) was an author, educator, historian, and for more than 25 years a "beloved" columnist for ''The Dayton Daily News'' and, prior to that, ''The Journal Herald'' in Dayton, Ohi ...
(also at ''The Journal-Herald'')
In 1988, ''Daily News'' publisher
Dennis Shere was fired by
Cox Newspapers
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company pri ...
because he rejected a health lecture advertisement by
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
groups. Shere cited his "Christian perspective" in declining to print the ad. The
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...
subsequently passed a resolution calling on "all
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
to refuse advertising that promotes homosexuality or any other lifestyle that is destructive to the family". The resolution said Shere was fired for his "commitment to defend traditional moral and
family values
Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals.
In the social sciences and U.S. political discourse, the conventi ...
". The company responded that it was defending
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
for all people, saying "We cannot compromise on the constitutional issue of equal access to
the press
''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...
".
Bibliography
*''Dayton Ink''. Dayton, Ohio: The Dayton Daily News, 1998.
References
Citations
Sources
*
External links
Official siteOfficial mobile site
{{COX
Cox Newspapers
Newspapers published in Dayton, Ohio
1898 establishments in Ohio