News Chief

The ''News Chief'' is a daily paper located in

Winter Haven, Florida Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is fifty-one miles east of Tampa. The population was 49,219 at the 2020 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 estimates, this city had a population of 44,955, making i ...

that serves east

Polk County, Florida Polk County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. The county population was 725,046, as of the 2020 census. Its county seat is Bartow, and its largest city is Lakeland. Polk County comprises the Lakeland–Winter Ha ...

. It 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.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 ...

to larger quarters and eventually acquired three

linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing; manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for individual uses. Lin ...

s. During its 10th anniversary in September 1921, the

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 ...

went to twice-a-week publication, and three years later went to five days a week, Monday through Friday. Lee continued the

through two severe hurricanes (1926 and 1933), a fire (1930) and the Great Depression before selling the

in January 1948 to W.W. Galvin of Ohio. Galvin immediately acquired a weekly, ''The Winter Haven News'', and combined it with the ''Florida Chief'' into the ''News Chief''. The

eventually passed to the W.E. "Bill" Rynerson family, which later acquired the weekly ''Auburndale Star''. Disaster struck on Nov. 13, 1954, when a major fire destroyed the ''News Chief's'' downtown Winter Haven building and severely damaged most of the equipment. A four-page Sunday edition was printed at ''The Winter Haven Herald'' to keep intact the record of not missing a scheduled publication day. In March 1964, the ''News Chief'' became one of the early leaders in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

in converting to offset printing. In December 1972, the ''News Chief'' moved from its downtown plant to new quarters. The ''News Chief'' added to its holdings with the purchase of the ''Winter Haven Shopping Guide'' in 1978. In 1979, the Rynerson family sold the ''News Chief'' to

Multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

Inc. In 1990, the ''News Chief'' was sold to

Stauffer Communications Stauffer Communications was a privately held media corporation based in Topeka, Kansas, that owned many publications and broadcast outlets, including the ''Topeka Capital-Journal'' and WIBW, WIBW-FM, and WIBW-TV. The company operated from 1930 to ...

. In 1995, the ''News Chief'' and its other holdings became part of

Morris Communications Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications, and online serv ...

Co. with the Morris purchase of the Stauffer Communications chain of publications. On December 1 2007, the ''News Chief'' and its other holdings, including the ''Polk Shopper'', became part of GateHouse Media Inc. In March 2008, GateHouse sold the ''News Chief's''

operations 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 ...

and its Lakeland

, ''

The Ledger ''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area. The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland Star-Telegram ...

''. On January 6, 2012, Halifax Media Group became the new owner of the News Chief. 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.Newspapers published in Florida Mass media in the Tampa Bay area Winter Haven, Florida Polk County, Florida Daily newspapers published in the United States 1911 establishments in Florida Newspapers established in 1911 Gannett publications