The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a 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 ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

. It is published by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

, and parts of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

History

William Tappan Thompson, author of the ''Major Jones'' series of humorous stories, along with John McKinney Cooper as publisher and owner, founded the paper on January 15, 1850 as the ''Daily Morning News''. At the end of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in 1865, John Cooper was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson allowing him to retain ownership of the paper. Its name was changed to the ''Daily News and Herald'', though Thompson remained as editor. Thompson left the paper in 1867 to travel in Europe. In 1868, Thompson returned and the paper was renamed again to ''The Savannah Daily Morning News'' for one edition, then changed to the current name the following day. In 1870,

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a planta ...

, who later went on to write the Uncle Remus tales, became an assistant editor. As assistant editor, Harris launched a successful campaign to outlaw

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

ing, which was still popular in Savannah in the mid-19th century. Banker Mills B. Lane, Jr. and publisher Alvah H. Chapman bought the ''Morning News'' and the ''Savannah Evening Press'' in 1957 and combined some operations as the Savannah News-Press Inc. The papers were again sold in 1960 to William Shivers Morris Jr., owner of the ''

Augusta Chronicle ''The Augusta Chronicle'' is the daily newspaper of Augusta, Georgia, and is one of the oldest newspapers in the United States still in publication. The paper is known for its coverage of the Masters Tournament, which is played in Augusta. The ''C ...

''. In 1969, the staffs of the ''Savannah Evening Press'' and the ''Savannah Morning News'' merged and in 1972 a combined Sunday edition called the ''Savannah News-Press'' was published. As evening newspapers were becoming less profitable due to competition by evening news programs on television, the ''Evening Press'' was cancelled, running its last issue on October 31, 1996. This left the ''Morning News'' as the only major daily newspaper of Savannah. In 2017,

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 ...

sold its newspapers to GateHouse Media.

Circulation

The reported numbers for the ''Savannah Morning News'' circulation as of the six months ended September 30, 2009, were 39,656 daily and 52,493 on Sundays. In June 2005, the daily circulation was reported at 53,825, a 26.3% drop. As of July 2013, the newspaper's primary website, savannahnow.com, remained the most-viewed local news source in the Savannah metropolitan area, with an estimated 75,000 unique visitors monthly and roughly 7 million page views monthly, according to Quantcast.

Subsidiaries

In March 2013, the ''Savannah Morning News'' expanded its arts and entertainment section "Do" into a free standalone

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 ...

distributed at roughly 200 newsstands across Chatham County and through a new website and mobile app. In April 2013, the newspaper launched a new company called Main Street Digital. Subsidiaries include ''Bryan County Now'' and ''Effingham Now''.

References

Sources

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Morris subsidiary profile of the ''Savannah Morning News''

External links