The ''Philadelphia Journal'' was a

tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format. Etymology The word ''tabloid'' comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs We ...

published in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

from December 5, 1977, until December 15, 1981. The paper, described by th
Associated Press
as "a tabloid that focused on sports, entertainment and crime", was the first venture into the United States market for the parent corporation,

Quebecor Quebecor Inc. is a Canadian diversified media and telecommunications company serving Québec based in Montreal. It was spelled Quebecor in both English and French until May 2012, when shareholders voted to add the acute accent, Québecor, in F ...

, a Canadian publishing house.

History

Jacques Beauchamp Jacques Beauchamp (February 4, 1927September 17, 1988) was a Canadian sports journalist. During his 25-year tenure at the ''Montréal-Matin'', he became the first reporter to follow the Montreal Canadiens on the road on a regular basis. His wo ...

was the initial editor and said that the paper devoted 25–26 pages in each edition to sports; the first sports editor was Sy Roseman, a longtime journalist and public relations professional who had been the original PR director of The Spectrum, the Philadelphia Wings and the opening PR director for Resorts International Casino in Atlantic City. Doug Baily, the former UPI editor was managing editor. Longtime local wire photo editor Ron Williams was the first photo editor. Typically about half the total pages featured sports. The paper utilized the composing room and pre-press operations of the rival ''

Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...

'' and was printed at satellite facilities around the Philadelphia area. According to an obituary for owner Pierre Peladeau in ''

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 ...

'', the venture lost $15 million. An Associated Press article, published when the tabloid ceased publication, cited its circulation at that tim
about 100,000
According to

the 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 ...

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, ...

, the decision to close the paper followed the unions' rejection of management's demand to save $3 million annually by laying off 43 of the 157 employees, and wage concessions. Quebecor, the paper's owner, intended to convert the tabloid to an all-sports format if the savings were realized. Originally, Peledeau told ''Time'' magazine he hoped to expand his sensationalist, sports-oriented paper to other cities, such as Atlanta, Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles but none of this came about. About a month after the ''Journal'' ceased publishing, ''

The Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...

'' also ceased publication, leaving the city with only one newspaper owner and two titles: ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' and the ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

''.

References

{{reflist

External links

*http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/27/business/pierre-peladeau-72-leading-quebec-newspaper-publisher.html *https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19811216&id=O_kPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eI0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3419,3505610 Defunct newspapers of Philadelphia Quebecor