The ''Times-Standard'' is the only major local daily newspaper covering the far North Coast of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Headquartered in
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
, the paper provides coverage of international, national, state and local news in addition to entertainment, sports, and classified listings. On the local level, the paper extensively covers all of Humboldt County while providing partial coverage of neighboring Del Norte, Mendocino, and
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
counties. The newspaper is one of the oldest continuously published papers in all of California, with several papers predating it by three years or less.
History
Established by E.D. Coleman in 1854, the ''Humboldt Times'' began publishing in what is known today as
Old Town Eureka
Old Town Eureka (formally the Eureka Old Town Historic District) in Eureka, California, is a historic district listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. I t is an area containing 154 buildings mostly from the Victorian e ...
. The first issue of the Humboldt Times was printed on September 2, 1854. Another daily newspaper, the Humboldt Standard, began publishing in 1875. After a lengthy period of spirited competition and then a period of joint ownership with separate operations, the two papers merged in 1967 to form what is now the ''Times-Standard''.Honoring the 150th Anniversary of the Times-Standard ''
Congressional Record
The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...
'', November 18, 2004 According to an older version of the newspaper's "about us" section of its web page, moving day came on December 7, 1968. Staff writer Andrew Genzoli later recalled, "There hadn’t been so much excitement in the newsroom since Pearl Harbor".
Throughout its history Humboldt County has been the site of several county-wide or regional newspapers. They include the ''Humboldt Bay Journal'' (1865–1867), ''National Index'' (1867–1868), ''Humboldt Bay Democrat'' (1868), ''Northern Independent'' (1869–1872) and finally the ''West Coast Signal'' which began in 1871 and lasted until 1880. The advent of the
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
in the 1870s encouraged the development of even more newspapers, some dailies and some weeklies. They included the ''Evening Star'' (1876–1878), ''Evening Herald'' (1879), ''Eureka News/News/Semi-Weekly News'' (1881) and finally ''Western Watchman'' (1884–1898) and ''Humboldt Mail'' (1887–1890). But the ''Times-Standard'' has been the only major daily newspaper of record for all Humboldt County for much of the county's history. In 1967, it passed out of local, family ownership into a newspaper chain,
Brush-Moore Newspapers Brush-Moore Newspapers, Inc. was a United States newspaper group based in Ohio which had its origins in 1923 and was sold to Thomson Newspapers in 1967 for $72 million, the largest ever newspaper transaction at that time.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 same year. Thomson owned the ''Times-Standard'' until 1996 when it was bought by
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 ...
, who sold it to
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 newspa ...
in June 2016.
However, from 2003 to 2008, the ''Times-Standard'' was the subject of vigorous competition through the establishment of another daily newspaper, ''The Eureka Reporter''. But, Humboldt County and other areas of the North Coast (reached by local papers), though quite large in geographical terms, is a small population area to feature two daily newspapers. As a result, in late 2008 (after a brief period of reduced publication), ''The Eureka Reporter'' announced that it would cease operations.
In early 2012, ''The Times-Standard'' ceased printing a Monday edition, publishing Monday news exclusively online.
Following a long history of publishing its print editions in Eureka, the newspaper decommissioned its in-house printing press in 2020 and began delivering copies to Humboldt County from
Chico, California
Chico ( ; Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 census, reflecting an increase from 86,18 ...