The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

revenue and is free to readers. It reports a monthly readership of 1.6 million online users. Prior to the 2017 cessation of the print edition, the ''Press'' was found in restaurants, coffee houses, and local retail stores. New weekly editions were distributed on Thursdays.

History

The

alt-weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

''Houston Press'' was founded in 1989 by John Wilburn, Chris Hearne (founder of Austin's ''Third Coast Magazine'') and Kirk Cypel (a Vice President of a Houston-based investment group) conceived of this news and entertainment weekly after rejecting a business plan to relaunch ''Texas Business Magazine''. Hearne and John Wilburn, who previously managed the Sunday magazine of the '' Dallas Morning News'', jointly established the magazine. Hearne was the paper's first publisher and Cypel served as the organization's business advisor. Although the paper faced early challenges, the landscape changed when Hearne and Cypel engineered a buyout of 713 Magazine, a key competitor. Once in control of 713, they stopped its publication and converted advertisers to the ''Houston Press''. Thereafter, the ''Houston Press''s advertising and circulation grew dramatically. Prior to the establishment of the ''Houston Press'', the city did not have a major alternative weekly publication. Its original cover story was about the election of the

Mayor of Houston The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Until 2015, the term of the mayor was two years. Beginning with the tenure of Bob Lanier, the city charter imposed term limits on offi ...

. For the newspaper's first five years, Niel Morgan served as the investor, and therefore the owner; Morgan was a real estate developer. Due to Wilburn's desire to get mainstream advertising, he chose not to run sexually-oriented advertising. After Wilburn and Morgan found themselves disagreeing over aspects of the paper, Wilburn quit. In the period before 1993 the ''Houston Press'' experienced financial difficulties. That year Morgan sold the paper, to New Times Media. Sexually-oriented advertising appeared after the sale. The paper's fortunes improved due to the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

of 1997-2001 and the increase in advertising; it was one of the first alternative weeklies in the United States to establish a website. In 1998 ''Houston Press'' acquired the assets of an alternative paper, ''

Public News Public News is a Pakistani news channel launched on 24 June 2018 by a Pakistani media mogul Yousaf Baig Mirza. The channel is owned and operated by Sports Star International Private Limited (Sports Star). It is an Urdu language Pakistani televi ...

'', that was ceasing operations. Employees of ''Public News''' sales department began working for the ''Houston Press''. That year Margaret Downing became the primary editor. There were 23 reporters and editors in 1998. Michael Hardy stated in the ''

Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3) Advertising-related income declined due to the rise of persons reading articles online, as well as the establishment of

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark began the ...

. In 2005, New Times acquired

Village Voice Media Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the public ...

, and changed its name to

. In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed

Voice Media Group Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing. VMG's current pr ...

. The paper's fortunes declined, as Backpage, which separated from Village Voice Media, had contributed significant funding. On November 3, 2017, Voice Media Group announced that it would cease printing of the ''Press'', moving to online-only publication, and that the paper would only use freelance journalists. Voice Media Group cited Hurricane Harvey as the final factor behind the cessation, and Downing stated that a recession in the oil industry and the decline of revenue from advertising contributed to the decision. The majority of the ''Press'' employees, including nine full-time editorial staff members and at least 6 employees on the advertising staff, lost their jobs. Downing and publisher Stuart Folb continued, along with a small advertising staff and marketing manager. The online-only scenario was a compromise reached by Downing and Folb with the owners, who initially wished to completely shut the paper down. In 2021, Voice Media Group sold the ''Houston Press'' to an anonymous buyer.

Content

Hardy stated that the ''Houston Press'', known for its coverage of the

culture of Houston Houston is a multicultural city with a thriving international community supported by the third largest concentration of consular offices in the United States, representing 86 nations. In addition to historical Southeast Texas culture, Housto ...

, was like a "

court jester A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and ...

" compared to the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' being the "king" of Houston's journalism industry; he added "Its music and arts listings were more comprehensive and reliable than those of the ''Chronicle'', which often seemed painfully out of touch, and it had the best critics in the city." He added that "The ''Press'' established a reputation for punching above its weight" in regards to investigative journalism, citing how an article lead to the exoneration of

Roy Criner Sharon Faye Keller (born August 1, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She is a Republican. Education and early career Born in Texas, Keller graduated from Rice University in Houston in 1975 with a major in phil ...

. The publication included John Nova Lomax's articles on the cityscape and music as well as

Robb Walsh Robb Walsh is an American food writer, cookbook author, and restaurant owner who divides his time between Galway Bay, Ireland, and Galveston, Texas. He is a former commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, Sunday; former restaurant ...

's articles on the cuisine of Houston.

Headquarters

The headquarters of the ''Houston Press'' are located in Midtown Houston on McGowen Street. Prior to 1998,Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The ''Houston Press'' Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." ''Houston Press''. October 25, 2013. p
1Archive
. Retrieved on October 25, 2013. the ''Houston Press'' was located in Suite 1900 of the 2000 West Loop South building in

Uptown Houston Uptown (more commonly called The Galleria Area) is a business district in Houston, located west of Downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road ( Farm to Market Road 1093). The Uptown District is roughly bounded by ...

, off of the

610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the ...

West Loop. In 1998, it moved to a new location in

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

, which became the ''Houston Press'' building and was originally built in 1927. That building is in close proximity to the

ExxonMobil Building The ExxonMobil Building (formerly the Humble Building) was built in 1963 in Houston. At that time it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at , surpassing the Southland Center in Dallas (the previous record holder). It remained ...

. Shelor Motor Company was the building's first occupant and used it as an automobile showroom. Beginning in the 1960s, the facility served as the Gillman

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

dealership building. In 1994 Suzanne Sellers painted a by

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

mural that is located around two of the building's sides. This mural is visible from Leeland, Milam, and Travis streets. In 2008 the ''Houston Press'' building received damage from Hurricane Ike since the hurricane caused water to go through the parking area on the building's roof into the offices. In 2010 the ''Houston Press'' installed new energy efficient windows in place of the original glass windows on the facility's second and third floors. On the weekend after Friday October 25, 2013 the ''Houston Press'' was scheduled to move to its new offices in Midtown, then on 2603 LaBranch Street.Garza, Abrahán. "Spaced City The ''Houston Press'' Moves to New Digs, From Downtown to Midtown." ''Houston Press''. October 25, 2013. p
2Archive
. Retrieved on October 25, 2013. "Our new address will be 2603 La Branch Street, Houston TX 77004"

Awards

Up until the November 2017 loss of salaried staff, the ''Houston Press'' won various awards for its coverage. Awards from the

Association of Alternative Newsweeklies The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. A ...

: 2007 *First Place, Feature Story; Third Place, Investigative Reporting Todd Spivak *First Place, Music Criticism; Second Place, Arts Feature John Nova Lomax *Second Place, News Story/Long Form, Craig Malisow 2005 *Honorable Mention, Column above 50,000: "Downing" by Margaret Downing *3rd Place, Education: Above 50,000: "HCCS's Gift Basket Bonanza" by Josh Harkinson *2nd Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: "The Cow Says Oink" by

*3rd Place, News Story (1500 words or less): "Firing Line" by Josh Harkinson 2004 *2nd Place, Column-Political: Above 50,000: Tim Fleck *1st Place, Food Writing: Above 50,000: Robb Walsh *3rd Place, Religion Reporting: Above 50,000: "Doing Time" by Scott Nowell 2003 *1st Place, Media Reporting: Above 50,000: "Reality TV Bites" by Jennifer Mathieu 2001 *2nd Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Paying the Price" by Bob Burtman 2000 *1st Place, Column: Above 54,000: Margaret Downing *1st Place, Corrections Reporting: Above 54,000: "Trouble in Mind" by Steve McVicker 1999 *1st Place, Online 1998 *1st Place, Investigative Reporting: Above 54,000: "Easy Street" by Bob Burtman *1st Place, Web Site: "Webb Page Confidential" Other awards of note include Todd Spivak's 2006 first place win in the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association under 100,000 circulation weekly category, and Rich Connelly's first place in the humor category of the under 100,000 circulation bracket of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

References

External links