''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a

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 daily in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the editorial page editor is Nathan Crabbe.

History

The paper was founded in July 1876 as the ''Gainesville Times'', by brothers E. M. and

William Wade Hampton William Wade Hampton (1854–1928) was one of the first attorneys in Gainesville, Florida. He and his brother Edwin moved to Gainesville from Tampa, Florida in 1875. Wade and his brother Edwin founded the town's first paper, the Gainesville ...

, and was renamed as ''The Gainesville Sun'' in February 1879. The paper was first printed on July 6, 1876. It went through a series of ownership and name changes in the 1880s and 1890s, first being consolidated with Henry Hamilton McCreary's ''Weekly Bee'' as the ''Gainesville Sun and Bee'', then as the ''Gainesville Daily Sun'', and finally back to the ''Gainesville Sun''. It was bought by W.M. Pepper Sr., in 1917 for $50,000, and was published by the Pepper family for three generations, until it was sold to the

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Ent ...

in 1962. During the time it was owned by the Pepper family (specifically in 1922) an editor at the paper openly admitted his membership in the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

and praised the Klan in print. This attitude helps to explain the editorial published in the paper following the

Rosewood massacre The Rosewood massacre was a racially motivated massacre of black people and the destruction of a black town that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida, United States. At least six black people and two whit ...

justifying the actions of the whites, saying "Let it be understood now and forever that he, whether white or black, who brutally assaults an innocent and helpless woman, shall die the death of a dog." Conversely, the ''

Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

'' of the time called it "a lasting blot on the people of

Levy county Levy County is a county located on the Gulf coast and in the northern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson. History Levy County was created in 1845, after the Seminol ...

", clearly condemning rather than justifying the massacre. In 1971, it was sold to

The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...

. On January 6, 2012, ''The Gainesville Sun'' was purchased by

Halifax Media Group Halifax Media Group was an American newspaper company owning more than 30 newspapers in five Southeastern U.S. States. It was founded on March 31, 2010 when a group of investors purchased ''The Daytona Beach News-Journal'' from the Davidson famil ...

. In 2015, Halifax was acquired by

New Media Investment Group Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The website is now known as Gainesville.com. In 2005, it launched ''The Gainesville Guardian'', a weekly paper aimed at East Gainesville and the city's

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

population, to mixed opinions.

Awards

''The Gainesville Sun'' has won two

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 ...

s: publisher John R. Harrison won in 1966 for his campaign for better housing codes, and editorialist Horance G. "Buddy" Davis Jr. won in 1971 for his editorials in support of peaceful desegregation of the local school system.

References

External links

Gainesville.com
''Gainesville Sun'' home page * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gainesville Sun, The Newspapers published in Florida Gainesville, Florida Publications established in 1876 Daily newspapers published in the United States 1876 establishments in Florida Gannett publications