''The Newport Daily News'' is a six-day
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 ...
serving
Newport County, Rhode Island
Newport County is one of five counties located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,643. It is also one of the seven regions of Rhode Island. The county was created in 1703. Like all of the counties in ...
. It publishes in the mornings on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and in the morning on Saturdays. The ''Daily News'' was the state's largest family-owned newspaper until it was purchased by
Gatehouse Media in 2017.
History
Until its sale to Gatehouse Media, the ''Daily News'' had been locally owned since it was founded in 1846. It was named Newspaper of the Year by the New England Newspaper Association in 1991, 2001 and 2004.
In 1970, the newspaper moved from
Thames Street in downtown Newport to an office on Malbone Road in the northern part of the city, shortly after the completion of the nearby
Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge
The Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, is a suspension bridge operated by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority that spans the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island (northeastern United States). ...
.
In 2018, Sherman Publishing put the Malbone Road property up for sale, but the paper continued to be based out of the building until new office space could be found.
In March 2019, the paper's office moved to
Middletown, Rhode Island
Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,075 at the 2020 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown".
History
Vari ...
.
Sherman Publishing
Edward A. Sherman Publishing Company, the family-owned publisher of the ''Daily News'', also prints three free
weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...
s in southern
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
: ''Mercury'', a Wednesday
alternative 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 l ...
covering
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
,
Newport and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
counties; the Friday ''Newport Navlog'', the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's oldest base newspaper (founded 1901), covering
Naval Station Newport
The Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA Newport) is a United States Navy base located in the city of Newport and the town of Middletown, Rhode Island. Naval Station Newport is home to the Naval War College and the Naval Justice School. It once was th ...
; and ''Ocean State Independent'', mailed to non-''Daily News'' subscribers on
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
.
The company also owned
South County Newspapers
Independent Newspapers is an independent publisher of a weekly newspaper, ''The Independent'', and a magazine, ''South County Life'', in Washington County, Rhode Island.
The company was founded by veteran newspaper publisher Frederick J. Wilson I ...
, which publishes ''The Independent'', a weekly newspaper covering the towns of
South Kingstown
South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...
(including the villages of
Kingston,
Peace Dale and Wakefield and the
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...
),
Narragansett and
North Kingstown
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilbe ...
. ''The Independent'', formerly based in Wakefield, now shares office space with the ''Newport Daily News'' and ''Mercury'' in Newport.
All of Sherman Publishing's publications were purchased by
Gatehouse Media, which also owns ''
The Providence Journal
''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
'', in November 2017.
In June 2018, Gatehouse sold South County Newspapers, ''The Independent'' and ''South County Life'' magazine to
Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers. In November 2018, publisher William Lucey and editor-in-chief Jon Zins both departed from the newspaper.
''Newport Mercury''
The ''Mercury'', another publication of the ''Daily News'', traces a lineage as one of the oldest newspapers in the USA. The history of that publication dates back to 1758, when the widow and son of
James Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's brother, established the ''Newport Mercury'' as a weekly publication, making
Ann Franklin the first woman in the Colonies to publish and edit a newspaper.
The ''Mercury'' was published regularly up to the time the British Army occupied Newport in December 1776, when the press and types were buried. (The press, also used by
Solomon Southwick
Solomon Southwick (December 25, 1773 – November 18, 1839) was an American newspaper publisher and political figure who was a principal organizer of the Anti-Masonic Party.
Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Southwick attended the University of Pe ...
to print copies of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, can be seen in the Museum of Newport History in downtown Newport.) After the British evacuated Newport in November 1779, the ''Mercury'' was issued again.
The ''Mercury'' was the first paper to publish poetry by an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
woman,
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...
.
The ''Mercury'' was acquired by Edward A. Sherman, owner of the ''Newport Daily News'' in 1928.
[(7 April 1928)]
Paper 190 Years Old in Merger
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''[(19 June 1958)]
Newport Mercury Observes 200th Anniversary Today
''Lewistown Evening Journal'' (Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
story) It continued as a subscription weekly published by the ''Newport Daily News'' until March 2005, when it was relaunched as a free alternative newsweekly under the editorship of Janine Weisman. The current iteration of the paper covers arts, entertainment, food and culture in
Newport County.
Since the ''Mercury'' ceased publication during the Revolutionary War, and was acquired by Sherman in 1928, ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' and the Mercury's publisher have a longstanding debate over which is older. The ''Courant'' has long identified itself as the longest "continuously published" newspaper in the United States and most scholarly articles attribute it as such.
[(8 August 2013)]
Which N.E. paper is oldest is consequence of definition
''New England Newspaper and Press Association e-Bulletin''
In April 2018, it was announced by editor Janine Weisman that the ''Mercury'' would no longer publish a weekly print edition, effective with the April 27 issue.
The paper would continue as a monthly insert of the ''Newport Daily News''.
The first of these new monthly ''Mercury'' editions was published on June 7, 2018 as both an insert in the ''Newport Daily News'' and as a stand-alone free newspaper. This monthly edition of the ''Mercury'' was no longer being published by the time Weisman left the ''Daily News'' in August 2019.
Prices
, ''The Newport Daily News'' prices are:
:Digital edition – $9.99 monthly or $59.99 per year
:Print edition delivery and digital edition $32 for eight weeks
References
External links
''The Newport Daily News'' Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newport Daily News, The
Newspapers published in Rhode Island
Newport County, Rhode Island