''The News Journal'' is the main newspaper for

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, and the surrounding area. It is headquartered in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

New Castle County, Delaware New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

, near New Castle, and is owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Du Pont family The du Pont family () or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its fo ...

owned these two Delaware newspapers, ''The Morning News'' and ''The Evening Journal''. Ownership of both papers was consolidated in 1919 when feuding factions of the family reconciled, forming the News Journal Company. DuPont decided to sell The News Journal Company in 1978. Gannett won the bidding war, beating the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

and

The Washington Post Company Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of ''The Washington Post ...

. Gannett paid $60 million for the two Delaware papers and merged them in 1989 to form one paper, ''The News Journal''. In 2010, The News Journal Company became The News Journal Media Group in an effort to collectively identify their extensive product portfolio of print, digital, video and new media. Most recent circulation statements show The News Journal daily circulation at 26,550 (Issue Date: August 21, 2019) and Sunday circulation at 39,375 (Issue Date: August 25, 2019).

Coverage area

''The News Journal'' covers

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

most in-depth, but also offers considerable coverage of the

Delaware General Assembly The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legisla ...

and the

Delaware beaches The Delaware Beaches are located along the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of Sussex County, Delaware, which is in the southern part of the state. In addition to beaches along the ocean, the area offers many amenities, including restaurants, ...

. The paper also offers limited coverage of northeast

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and southeast

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, mostly by means of short news briefs. The paper publishes national and international articles from

wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

Sections

;Regular sections *News *Local & Business *Sports *Life *Classifieds ;Special sections *Innovate Delaware *Health (Tuesdays) *Crossroads (Thursdays) – contains news about schools and other local, human-interest features. High schools in Delaware each have pick a student to write a short report about the happenings at their school for Crossroads. In April 2007, ''The News Journal'' began reprinting articles from local high school newspapers in the Crossroads section. *55 Hours (Fridays) – movie reviews, food reviews, and info about events occurring in the 55 hours of the weekend (and beyond) *Auto (Saturdays) *Sunday Life Delaware Online and The News Journal Building

Delaware Online and The News Journal Building

Website and video

The News Journal Media Group entered the Internet age in the late 1990s with the launch o
Delaware Online
a website with an online edition of all local content in the paper, as well as job listings and classified ads. The paper began offering an online news update weekdays at 4:30 pm. The once-daily update has evolved into as-it-happens online news coverage that often results in a couple dozen news updates per day. DelawareOnline.com was the first newspaper in the country to offer a morning and afternoon online newscast, with anchor Patty Petite. DelawareOnline.com was cited in a 2008 Wilkerson and Associates study as the site Delawareans visit first for news and entertainment. More than one million unique visitors are recorded each month. As of July 2020, the Delaware Online Facebook page had more than 200,000 followers.

Community involvement

''The News Journal'' participates in the Newspapers for Education program, which provides free newspapers for area schools. On Fridays during the school year, the paper publishes an informational feature for school children, in the form of colorful, pull-out, double-truck page in the Life section. In 2006, ''The News Journal'' provided Glasgow High School a $10,000 grant to help the school's newspaper, ''The Dragon Fire''. ''The News Journal'' also sent editors to Glasgow to help the ''Dragon Fire'' with page layout and web design. The News Journal Company also runs the Needy Family Fund, which partners with local charities to assist family in need of food and clothing. Each Christmas season, ''The News Journal'' asks readers to donate to the fund, and publishes a list of those who do. The News Journal Media Group has partnered with nearly half of the registered not-for-profit companies (registered

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

) in New Castle County. A customized link – offering all types of correspondence from not-for-profits, church leaders and community affairs personnel – is available at the bottom of DelawareOnline.com. In addition, ''The News Journal'' publishes a dedicated not-for-profit customized publication, ''GET INVOLVED'', which is distributed in the paper every other month.

Notable reporters

* Rod Beaton – sports journalist *

Al Cartwright Albert Thomas Cartwright (June 20, 1917 – May 10, 2015) was an American Sports journalism, sportswriter. He spent 1947 to 1968, then 1971 to 1983, working with ''The News Journal'' and its predecessors, winning awards for his "A La Carte" colu ...

– Cartwright wrote sports columns for ''The News Journal'' and its predecessors from 1947 to 1968, and 1971–1983. *

Bill Fleischman William R. Fleischman Jr. (April 8, 1939May 1, 2019) was an American sports journalist. During the 1960s, he worked at ''The News Journal'' and the ''Burlington County Times'' after graduating from Gettysburg College. He reported for the ''Phil ...

(1966 to 1969) *

Izzy Katzman Izzy is a common nickname for the given names Israel,Isaac, Isambard, Isidor, Isidore, Isidora, Isabel, Isobel, Isabelle, Isabella, Isaiah, Ishmael, Izzet, Isarn, Ismail, Isra, Izebel, Izmara, Isobelle, Isaura or Isam (عصام). Izzy, Izzie ...

– Katzman was a sports editor from 1950 to 1986. * Norman Lockman – Lockman served as managing editor of ''The News Journal'' from 1984 to 1991. After that, he became a member of the editorial board and wrote a regular column in the paper. Before joining ''The News Journal'', Lockman won a

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 a series of articles on race relations he co-wrote for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. Suffering from

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

, Lockman wrote his final column in late 2004. He died the following April. *

Matt Zabitka Matthew John Zabitka (October 25, 1920 – May 29, 2009) was an American sportswriter. He spent forty years working with ''The News Journal'' and ''The Morning News''. Biography Zabitka was born on October 25, 1920, in Chester, Pennsylvania. He b ...

– Zabitka served as a sports editor from 1962 to 2002.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:News Journal, The Newspapers published in Delaware Wilmington, Delaware Gannett publications Newspapers established in 1866 Companies based in New Castle County, Delaware 1866 establishments in Delaware