''The Post and Courier'' is the main daily newspaper in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the ''Charleston Courier'', founded in 1803, the ''Charleston Daily News'', founded 1865, and ''The Evening Post'', founded 1894. Through the ''Courier'', it brands itself as the oldest daily newspaper in the South and one of the oldest continuously operating newspapers in the United States. It is the flagship newspaper of

Evening Post Industries Evening Post Industries is a privately held American media company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It has been led by four generations of the Manigault family. On August 6, 2013, the company changed its name from the Evening ...

, which in turn is owned by the Manigault family of Charleston, descendants of

Peter Manigault Peter Manigault (October 10, 1731 – November 12, 1773) was an attorney, plantation owner, slave owner, and colonial legislator native to Charleston, South Carolina. He was the wealthiest man in the British North American colonies at the time ...

. It is the largest newspaper in South Carolina, followed by Columbia's ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'' and ''

The Greenville News ''The Greenville News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. After ''The State'' in Columbia and Charleston's ''The Post and Courier'', it is the third largest paper in South Carolina. History ''The Greenville N ...

''.

History

The ''Charleston Courier,'' founded in 1803. The founder of the ''Courier'', Aaron Smith Willington, came from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

with newspaper experience. In the early 19th century, he was known to row out to meet ships from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Havre, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to get the news earlier than other Charleston papers. He also had a translator working for him, so he could copy items from the

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

newspapers. Rudolph Septimus Siegling also served as editor during the 1800s. The''Charleston Daily News,'' founded in 1865, merged with it to form the ''News and Courier'' in 1873. The ''Evening Post'' was founded in 1894, but quickly ran into financial trouble. In 1896, rice planter Arthur Manigault stepped in to rescue the paper. The paper and its successors have been in the hands of the Manigault family for four generations. In 1926, Manigault's son, Robert, bought ''The News and Courier.'' During the Civil Rights Era, the ''News and Courier'' was virulently

segregationist Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Interna ...

; indeed, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' described it as ''the'' most segregationist newspaper in the South. Its editor, Thomas R. Waring Jr., was a staunch segregationist, as was staffer W. D. Workman Jr., who ran for public office in a campaign that united South Carolina's formerly divided racial and economic conservatives.

Merger

By 1991, it was apparent Charleston could no longer support two newspapers, so the ''News and Courier'' and ''Evening Post'' were merged into a single morning newspaper, ''The Post and Courier.'' However, the two papers had shared the same editorial staff since the 1980s. The paper acquired several sisters in the 1990s when its parent bought other newspapers and television stations. In July 2021, the ''Post and Courier'' announced a relocation of its offices to 148 Williman Street.

Awards

The newspaper has won the highest awards in journalism, frequently besting much larger news organizations. It has taken a leadership role in exposing corruption and reducing local news deserts with it
Uncovered
project, a partnership with more than 18 South Carolina newspapers. The project won the 2021 S.C. Press Association's top award for Public Service. In 2015 it won the

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalis ...

for coverage of domestic violence. In 2019, Tony Bartelme won the inaugural Victor K. McElheny Knight Science Journalism Award for a story about climate change and the Gulf Stream. In 2016, a team of reporters won a Scripps Howard Foundation Award for an investigation into police shootings. In 2018, the newspaper won the American Society of News Editors Deborah Howell Award for a story about the demise of the Piggly Wiggly Carolina grocery chain. In 2017, the American Geophysical Union awarded Tony Bartelme its Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism for "Every Other Breath," a series about climate change issues. In 2008, the newspaper won national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and American Society of Newspaper Editors for coverage of the

Charleston Sofa Super Store fire The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire occurred on the evening of June 18, 2007, in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine firefighters. This was the deadliest firefighter disaster in the US since the September 11 attacks. The fire was believ ...

. In 2008, Reporter

Tony Bartelme Tony Bartelme, an American journalist and author, is the senior projects reporter for ''The Post and Courier'' in Charleston, South Carolina. He has been a finalist for four Pulitzer Prizes. Biography Bartelme was born in 1963, in Minneapolis, Mi ...

also won the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for a story about the effect of China's growth on local economies.

Circulation figures

The reported numbers for The Post and Courier's circulation as of the six months ended September 30, 2009, were 86,084 daily and 94,940 on Sundays. This is down some 13% from the period ended March 31, 2008, which were 99,459 daily and 110,289 on Sunday. At the start of 2009, The Post and Courier's circulation figures were down to 94,647 for dailies and 97,549 for Sundays, 4.8% down from the previous year's figures. By the end of 2012, the circulation figures (including paid and non-paid) had declined to 82,266 for dailies and 92,062 for Sundays. For the 4th quarter of 2015, paid circulation had dropped to 68,400 for Sundays and 56,000-57,000 for dailies as reported by the Alliance for Audited Media. In the first quarter of 2020, audited daily and Sunday circulation totals were at 45,016 and 51,190, respectively.

Layoffs

A decline in revenue made the paper offer a buyout to employees in 2008 in an attempt to streamline the company and save money. After 64 full-time employees left, bringing the headcount down to 381 by the start of 2009. On February 6, 2009, 25 more layoffs were announced. On March 23, 2009, Evening Post Publishing Co., the parent company of the paper, announced that a company-wide furlough plan would take place in the second quarter of 2009 and required employees to take five days of unpaid leave in another attempt to save the company money. The newspaper said the move was necessary "because of the continued weakness of the economy and the impact on advertising."

''Charleston Scene''

One addition to the paper is the weekly ''Charleston Scene'' guide—published on a Thursday, containing entertainment, music and food reviews for the local area. On February 1, 2010, it was announced that ''Preview'' was renamed and re-launched as ''Charleston Scene'', as of 11 March 2010.

Notes

External links

Official Websitemobile

Evening Post Industries

News and Courier records
archived with the

South Carolina Historical Society The South Carolina Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1855 to preserve South Carolina's rich historical legacy. The SCHS is the state's oldest and largest private repository of books, letters, journals, maps, d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post and Courier, The Newspapers published in South Carolina Publications established in 1803 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers 1803 establishments in the United States Mass media in Charleston, South Carolina