The ''Charleston Daily Mail'' was a

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 ...

based in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

. On July 20, 2015, it merged with the ''

Charleston Gazette The ''Charleston Gazette-Mail'' is the only daily morning newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia. It is the product of a July 2015 merger between ''The Charleston Gazette'' and the ''Charleston Daily Mail''. The paper is one of nine owned by HD ...

'' to form the ''

Charleston Gazette-Mail The ''Charleston Gazette-Mail'' is the only daily morning newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia. It is the product of a July 2015 merger between ''The Charleston Gazette'' and the ''Charleston Daily Mail''. The paper is one of nine owned by HD ...

''.

Publishing history

The ''Daily Mail'' was founded in 1914 by former Alaska Governor

Walter Eli Clark Walter Eli Clark (January 7, 1869 – February 4, 1950) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher. In addition to his journalistic activities, he was the last Governor of the District of Alaska from 1909 to 1912, and the first Govern ...

and remained the property of his heirs until 1987. Governor Clark described the newspaper as an "independent Republican" publication. The newspaper published in the afternoons, Monday–Saturday, with a Sunday morning edition, until 1961, when the paper entered into a Joint Operating Agreement with the morning ''

'' and the new Sunday ''

'' was substituted and the ''Daily Mail'' began a six-day afternoon publishing schedule. In 1987, the Clark heirs sold the paper to the Toronto-based

Thomson Newspapers The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form ...

. The new owners moderated the political views of the paper to some degree. In 1998, Thomson sold the ''Daily Mail'' to the Denver-based

MediaNews Group MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns over 100 newspa ...

. In May 2004, MediaNews sold the paper to the Daily Gazette Company, the owners of the morning newspaper. The new owner reduced the staff and canceled its Saturday edition, publishing Monday–Friday afternoons from 2004 to 2009. It also began to market the paper in an uncompetitive manner in an attempt to drive its circulation down to the point it could be closed. The

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

filed suit under

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

laws almost immediately. In the course of the lawsuit it was discovered that the Daily Gazette Company had presented a business plan to the United Bank which projected a shutdown of the paper no later than 2007. In January 2009, the paper was switched to a morning publication. On January 20, 2010, the Daily Gazette Company and the Justice Department settled relative to violations in the purchase of the ''Daily Mail'' and the Daily Gazette Company's management of it. Under the announced terms of the settlement, the previous owner, the Media News Group, held a perpetual option to re-purchase 20% of the paper, had two of five seats on the management board, and determined the size of the budget for its news staff and choose its editorial content. The Daily Gazette was required to seek government permission to cease publication of the ''Daily Mail'' and the intellectual property of the paper passed to the Media News Group when it shut down. This intellectual property once included the

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

dailymail.com which the newspaper beat the larger London paper in registering in 1996, but in January 2014 it was reported that the British company had paid over £1m (US$1.7m) for the domain name for its

Mail Online MailOnline (also known as ''dailymail.co.uk'') is the website of the ''Daily Mail'', a newspaper in the United Kingdom, and of its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday''. MailOnline is a division of dmg media, which is owned by Daily Mail and Gene ...

service. The newspaper was merged with the ''

'', without prior notice on July 20, 2015, to form the ''

''.

Awards

The ''Daily Mail'' has won awards in many fields. J. D. Maurice, its editor of many years until his retirement in 1978, won the

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

for editorial writing in 1958 and the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished editorial writing in 1975.

References

External links

''Charleston Daily Mail''
{{Authority control Charleston, West Virginia Publications established in 1914 Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers Defunct newspapers published in West Virginia Publications disestablished in 2015 1914 establishments in West Virginia 2015 disestablishments in West Virginia