The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 p ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
and east of
Waterbury
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...
, its headquarters on Broad Street in
Hartford, Connecticut is a short walk from the
state capitol. It reports regional news with a chain of bureaus in smaller cities and a series of local editions. It also operates ''
CTNow'', a free local weekly newspaper and website.
The ''Courant'' began as a weekly called the ''Connecticut Courant'' on October 29, 1764, becoming daily in 1837. In 1979, it was bought by the
Times Mirror Company
The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000.
History
It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
. In 2000, Times Mirror was acquired by the
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
, which later combined the paper's management and facilities with those of a Tribune-owned Hartford
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...
. The ''Courant'' and other Tribune print properties were spun off to a new corporate parent,
Tribune Publishing, separate from the station, in 2014. ''
Tribune Publishing'' agreed in May 2021 to be acquired by
Alden Global Capital
Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. Its managing director is Heath Freeman. By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers. The company ...
, which operates its media properties through
Digital First Media
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 newsp ...
. The transaction was finalized on May 25, 2021.
History and age
The ''Connecticut Courant'' began as a weekly on October 29, 1764, started by Thomas Green. The ''Hartford Courant'' became daily in 1837, although it still published a weekly edition until 1896. The daily ''Hartford Courant'' traces its existence back to the weekly, thereby giving it the title "America's oldest continuously published newspaper", and leading it to adopt "Older than the nation" as its slogan.
The ''Hartford Courant'' is considered to be the nation's oldest continuously published newspaper, and is cited as such in scholarly articles, journalism, and historical texts. ''
The New Hampshire Gazette'', which started publication in 1756, trademarked the title of oldest paper in the nation after being revived as a small biweekly paper in 1989. Prior to 1989, the paper had all but disappeared into other publications for most of the 20th century, which puts its self-proclaimed status as oldest newspaper in doubt. The ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' claims to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper; although the ''Post'' started daily publishing 35 years before ''The Connecticut Courant'' did, the ''Courant'' existed as a weekly paper for nearly 40 years before the ''New York Post'' was founded, making the ''Courant'' the older paper. In fact, ''
The Providence Journal
''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
'' has become the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the United States: The ''Journal'' began daily publishing 28 years after the ''New York Post'', but strikes at the ''Post'' in 1958 and 1978 cast doubt on its continuity. Regardless, ''The Connecticut Courant'' existed as a weekly paper for nearly 70 years before the Providence Journal was founded.
In 1867,
Joseph Roswell Hawley
Joseph Roswell Hawley (October 31, 1826March 18, 1905) was the 42nd Governor of Connecticut, a U.S. politician in the Republican and Free Soil parties, a Civil War general, and a journalist and newspaper editor. He served two terms in the Unit ...
, a leading
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
politician and former
governor of Connecticut
The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...
, bought the newspaper, which he combined with the ''Press.'' Under his editorship, the ''Courant'' became the most influential newspaper in Connecticut and one of the leading Republican papers in the country.
Emile Gauvreau
Emile Gauvreau (1891-1956) was an American journalist, newspaper and magazine editor and author of novels and nonfiction books. He is best known as editor of two of New York's entertainment and sensation oriented "jazz age" tabloid newspapers.
E ...
became a reporter in 1916, and the managing editor in 1919. His energetic and often sensational news policies affronted Charles Clark, the owner and editor. Clark fired Gauvreau when he refused to stop a series of stories about the exploitation of fake
medical diplomas. Gauvreau went on to be a major figure in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
tabloid wars of the
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the ...
as the first
managing editor
A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication.
United States
In the United States, a managing edit ...
of the
New York Evening Graphic
The ''New York Evening Graphic'' (not to be confused with the earlier '' Daily Graphic)'' was a tabloid newspaper published from 1924 to 1932 by Bernarr Macfadden. Exploitative and mendacious in its short life, the ''Graphic'' exemplified tablo ...
and later managing editor of the
New York Mirror
The ''New-York Mirror'' was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from 1823 to 1842, succeeded by ''The New Mirror'' in 1843 and 1844. Its producers then launched a daily newspaper named ''The Evening Mirror'', which published from 1844 ...
.
Herbert Brucker
Herbert Brucker (1898–1977) was a journalist, teacher, and national advocate for the freedom of the press. Brucker served as editor-in-chief of the '' Hartford Courant'', a newspaper published in Hartford, Connecticut, for 19 years (1947–196 ...
was the most prominent editor of the ''Courant'' in the 20th century.
Recent history
The ''Courant'' was purchased in 1979 by
Times Mirror
The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000.
History
It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' parent company for $105.6 million. The first years of out-of-town ownership are described by a former ''Courant'' reporter in a book titled ''Spiked: How Chain Management Corrupted America's Oldest Newspaper.''
One criticism was that the new owners were more interested in awards, and less interested in traditional ''Courant'' devotion to exhaustive coverage of local news.
The ''Courant'' won a 1992
Pulitzer Prize for inquiring into problems with the
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...
(a Connecticut company was involved in the construction), and it won a 1999 Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category for coverage of a 1998
murder-suicide that took five lives at
Connecticut Lottery
The Connecticut Lottery Corporation, also called the CT Lottery, is the official lottery in Connecticut. It was created in 1971 by then-Gov. Thomas Meskill, who signed Public Act No. 865. The first tickets were sold on February 15, 1972. The Conne ...
headquarters. A series of articles about sexual abuse by the head of a worldwide Catholic order, published since February 1997, constituted the first denunciation of
Marciel Maciel
Marcial Maciel Degollado (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his caree ...
known to a wider audience.
In 2000, Times Mirror and the ''Courant'' became part of the
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
, one of the world's largest multimedia companies. By then the ''Courant'' had acquired the
Valley Advocate
The ''Daily Hampshire Gazette'' is a six-day morning daily newspaper based in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States, and covering all of Hampshire County, southern towns of Franklin County, and Holyoke. The newspaper prints Monday through ...
group of "alternative" weeklies started by two former ''Courant'' staff members in 1973. Tribune also owned two local television stations:
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV (channel 61) is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Waterbury-licensed CW affiliate WCCT-TV ...
and
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
affiliate
WCCT-TV
WCCT-TV (channel 20), branded on-air as CW 20, is a television station licensed to Waterbury, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Hartford-license ...
.
In 2005, The ''Courant'' became the most recent American newspaper to win the
Society for News Design
The Society for News Design (SND), formerly known as the Society of Newspaper Design, is an international organization for professionals working in the news sector of the media industry, specifically those involved with graphic design, illustration ...
's World's Best Designed Newspaper award. In 2006, the paper's investigation into mental health and suicides among Americans serving in the Iraq war was featured in the PBS documentary series ''
Exposé: America's Investigative Reports'' in an episode entitled "Question 7."
In late June 2006, the Tribune Co. announced that ''Courant'' publisher Jack W. Davis Jr. would by replaced by Stephen D. Carver, vice president and general manager of Atlanta, Ga., TV station WATL. In March 2009, Tribune replaced Carver with Richard Graziano, who was given a dual role as Courant publisher and general manager of Tribune's two Hartford television stations. In May of the same year, Tribune announced that Jeff Levine, a newspaper executive with a background in marketing, would become "director of content" and that the editor or "print platform manager" of the ''Courant'' would report to Levine as would the news director of WTIC-TV. Shortly after that, the ''Courant's'' two highest ranking editors were let go.
After 2010, ''Courant'' has offered early retirement and buyout packages to reduce staff as it continues to experience declines in advertising revenue. There have also been layoffs and reduction in pages. Newsroom staff peaked in 1994 at close to 400 staff, down to 175 staff by 2008, and 135 staff in 2009.
Tribune Company brought frequent changes in the Courant's top leadership. On November 18, 2013, Tribune appointed Nancy Meyer as publisher, succeeding Rich Graziano who left to become president and general manager of WPIX-TV (PIX11) in New York City. In 2014, the ''Courant'' purchased the ''
'' chain of weekly newspapers.
On October 10, 2014, Tribune Company announced the appointment of Rick Daniels as publisher of the Courant, succeeding Nancy Meyer, who was promoted to publisher and CEO of the Orlando Sentinel.
Andrew Julien was named the combined publisher and editor in March 2016, replacing Tom Wiley, who departed after two months.
In 2018, the Hartford Courant joined more than 300 newspapers in releasing editorials in response to President's Trump's anti-media rhetoric, a show of solidarity initiated by
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
. "The Hartford Courant joins newspapers from around the country today to reaffirm that the press is not the enemy of the American people.''"''
In October 2020, the ''Courant'' announced that it would be discontinuing printing the paper in Hartford and outsourcing future printing to the ''
Springfield Republican
''The Republican'' is a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts covering news in the Greater Springfield area, as well as national news and pieces from Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester and northern Connecticut. It is owned by ...
'' in Massachusetts.
In December 2020,
Tribune Publishing announced that it would be closing the ''Courants Broad Street newsroom by the end of the year with no current plans to open another.
Name
The word "courant" derives from the French ''courante nouvellen'', indicating current news items, possibly borrowed by way of the Dutch ''krant''. Courant was occasionally a name for English-language newspapers, including the ''New-England Courant'' (Boston), founded by James Franklin in 1721.
News and editorial
* Executive editor: Helen Bennett
* Managing editor: Kellie Love
* Content editor: Kaitlin McCallum
* Sports editor: William Dayton
Awards
Pulitzer Prize
Nancy Tracy of the ''Hartford Courant'' was a 1984 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Feature Writing for her moving depiction of Meg Casey, a victim of premature aging.
Robert S. Capers and Eric Lipton of the Hartford Courant won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for their series on how a flawed mirror built at Connecticut's Perkin-Elmer Corporation immobilized the
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...
.
The Hartford Courant Staff won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of a shooting rampage in which a state lottery employee killed four supervisors then himself.
Reporters Mike McIntire and Jack Dolan of the Hartford Courant were 2001 Pulitzer Prize Finalists in Investigative Reporting for their work in revealing the mistakes of practicing doctors who have faced disciplinary action.
Photojournalist Brad Clift was a 2003 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Feature Photography for his photo series "Heroin Town", which depicted heroin use in
Willimantic.
Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman of the Hartford Courant were 2007 Pulitzer Prize Finalists in Investigative Reporting for their in-depth reporting on suicide rates among American soldiers in Iraq which led to congressional and military action addressing the issues raised in the series.
The Hartford Courant Staff was a 2013 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for its comprehensive and compassionate coverage of the 2012 shooting massacre at
Sandy Hook Elementary School
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
. The paper was given exclusive access originally to the investigative files collected by the FBI on the shooters life, growing up.
Politics
The paper endorsed
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
in both the
2000 Presidential election and the
2004 Presidential election.
In the 2012 Presidential Election, the ''Courant'' endorsed
President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
for a second term over Republican
Mitt Romney.
The ''Courant'' weighed in on the contentious and antagonistic 2016 Presidential Election, endorsing Democrat
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
over Republican candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
.
In August 2018 the ''Courant'' endorsed
Ned Lamont
Edward Miner Lamont Jr. (born January 3, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 89th governor of Connecticut. He has served in this position since January 9, 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Greenw ...
in the Democratic primary as the only "credible" choice compared to rival
Joe Ganim
Joseph Peter Ganim (born October 21, 1959) is an American Democratic politician, former attorney, and convicted felon who is currently serving as the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was elected mayor of the city six times serving from 19 ...
. The ''Courant'' went on to endorse independent candidate
Oz Griebel
Richard Nelson "Oz" Griebel (June 21, 1949 – July 29, 2020) was an American banker, lawyer, and political candidate. He ran as a Republican primary candidate in the 2010 Connecticut gubernatorial election, and as an independent in the 2018 gub ...
in the general election.
For the 2020 Presidential Election, The ''Courant'' weighed in, endorsing Democrat
Joe Biden over Republican candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. The Courant took a stronger stance in its 2020 endorsement against Trump than it did in 2016, arguing that a vote for Trump was a vote for racism.
Controversies
Sleepy's
In August 2009, the ''Courant'' attracted controversy over its firing of George Gombossy, a 40-year veteran of the paper and its consumer advocate at the time. Gombossy charged that the ''Courant'' had
spiked an article he had written about an ongoing investigation by the
Connecticut attorney general
The Connecticut Attorney General is the state attorney general of Connecticut.
The Attorney General is elected to a four-year term. According to state statute, eligibility for the office requires being "an attorney at law of at least ten years' ...
accusing
Sleepy's
Sleepy's was a retail mattress chain with over 1,000 stores, primarily situated in the northeastern United States. The company was founded in New York City in 1931. Sleepy's was acquired by Mattress Firm in December 2015 and all stores were re ...
(a major advertiser in the paper) of selling used and bedbug-infested mattresses as new.
Gombossy's lawsuit against the ''Courant'' was thrown out by a
Connecticut Superior Court
The Connecticut Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those of original jurisdiction of the Probate Court, and hears appeals from the Probate Court. The Superior Court has 13 judicial distr ...
judge in July 2010. In his decision, Judge Marshall K. Berger, Jr. remarked that newspaper owners and editors have a "paramount" right to "control
hecontent of their papers," further observing that in his role at the ''Courant'', Gombossy had "no constitutional right to publish anything."
However, Gombossy's attorneys filed a second complaint, and Judge Berger reinstated the complaint. The case headed to trial in the fall of 2011.
Plagiarism
In September 2009 the ''Courant's'' publisher, Richard Graziano, publicly apologized as the newspaper accepted a plagiarism charge. Competitors had accused the ''Courant'' of taking its content without permission and refusing to give proper credit.
Hartford Courant Admits Plagiarism, Offers Apology
Editor and Publisher.
References
Further reading
* McNulty, J. Bard. ''Older than the Nation: The Story of the'' Hartford Courant (1964)
* Smith, J. Eugene. ''100 Years of Hartford's'' Courant'': From Colonial Times through the Civil War'' (1949)
External links
*
The ''Courant'' mobile
* ttps://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/ ''Columbia Journalism Review's'' "Who Owns What" page about media companies.*https://twitter.com/hartfordcourant
*https://www.facebook.com/hartfordcourant/
*https://www.youtube.com/user/hartfordcourantnews/featured
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartford Courant, The
Newspapers published in Connecticut
Mass media in Hartford, Connecticut
Tribune Publishing
Companies based in Hartford, Connecticut
Publications established in 1764
1764 establishments in Connecticut
Works involved in plagiarism controversies
Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers
Newspapers of colonial America