''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by

Block Communications Block Communications Inc. (also known as Blade Communications) is an American privately held holding company of various assets, mainly in the print and broadcast media, based in Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1900 in New York City when ...

. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835.

Overview

The first issue of what was then the ''Toledo Blade'' was printed on December 19, 1835. It has been published daily since 1848 and is the oldest continuously run business in Toledo.

David Ross Locke David Ross Locke (also known by his pseudonym Petroleum V. Nasby) (September 20, 1833February 15, 1888) was an American journalist and early political commentator during and after the American Civil War. Biography Early life Locke was born ...

gained national fame for the paper during 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 policie ...

era by writing under the pen name Petroleum V. Nasby. Under this name, he wrote satires ranging on topics from slavery, to the Civil War, to temperance. President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

was fond of the Nasby satires and sometimes quoted them. In 1867 Locke bought the ''Toledo Blade''. The paper dropped "Toledo" from its masthead in 1960. In 2004 ''The Blade'' won the

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in a U.S. news publica ...

with a series of stories entitled "Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths". The story brought to light the story of the

Tiger Force Tiger Force was the name of a long-range reconnaissance patrol unit of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade (Separate), 101st Airborne Division, which fought in the Vietnam War from November 1965 to November 1967. The unit ...

, a Vietnam fighting force that brutalized the local population. In 2006, ''The Blade'' was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the National Headliner Award, for breaking the scandal in Ohio known as

Coingate Coingate is a nickname for the Tom Noe investment scandal in Ohio revealed in early 2005 in part by Toledo, Ohio newspaper '' The Blade''. The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) invested hundreds of millions of dollars in high risk or un ...

. As of 2015, the editor in chief is John Robinson Block. His family purchased the paper in 1926. They also own the media conglomerate

, which owns cable systems, television stations, and the Internet service provider Buckeye Express. ''The Blade'' had the 83rd largest daily newspaper circulation in the United States. The Toledo ''Blade'' was named for the famed

swordsmith Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodw ...

ing industry of the original city of Toledo, Spain. Its motto, on the nameplate below the title, is "One of America's Great Newspapers." File:A Bunch of Blade Hustlers, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - a0f829ce71897a880cd7e8cea8e7d8e1 (page 1).jpg, alt=Toledo Blade Newsboys, 1900s, Toledo Blade Newsboys, 1900s File:The Blade delivery vehicle.jpg, A Toledo Blade delivery vehicle in

Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Ohio, United States, located southwest of Toledo. The population was 30,028 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Toledo Metropolitan Area and a member of the Toledo Metropolitan A ...

Events

In 2007

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

Allan Detrich Allan Detrich is an American photographer. He was born in Attica, Ohio, and attended the Ohio Institute of Photography in Dayton, Ohio. In 1998 his photo-essay "Children of the Underground" made it to the finals of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature ...

left ''The Blade'' when it was discovered that he had digitally altered a photo that was published on the front page of the March 31, 2007, edition. A subsequent investigation revealed that he had digitally altered and submitted 79 photos during the first 14 weeks of 2007, 58 of which ran either in ''The Blade'' or on its website. Members of several unions worked without contracts from March to August 2006. Over the course of August 2006, ''The Blade'' locked out over 25% of its

employees Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any oth ...

. The strike and lockout ended in May 2007. In May 2014, Block Communications announced plans to close ''The Blade''s production facility, including the printing presses, located in the downtown headquarters building.

''Toledo Free Press'' lawsuit

Total Eclipse of the Sons editorial cartoon

In October 2011, ''The Blade'' filed a lawsuit against rival publication the '' Toledo Free Press'', claiming that former ''Blade'' general manager and current ''Free Press'' publisher Thomas F. Pounds violated a 2004 separation agreement containing a non-compete clause. According to the ''Free Press'', ''The Blade'' took exception to an editorial cartoon criticizing ''The Blade'' stance on downtown development plans by

Rave Cinemas Rave Cinemas, formerly known as "Rave Motion Pictures", is a movie theater brand founded in 1999 and owned by Cinemark Theatres. It previously was headed by Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Theaters, and Rolando B. Rodriguez, fo ...

and Hollywood Casino Toledo; ''The Blade'' cited the cartoon among the grounds for its lawsuit: "On or about August 21, 2011, Pounds... permitted ''Toledo Free Press'' to publish a cartoon that depicted a characterization of John R. Block and Allan Block together with ''The Blade'' as casting an eclipsing shadow on jobs, tax revenue, investment and development in Toledo, Ohio." In December 2011, the ''Free Press'' responded to the lawsuit and filed a counterclaim, asserting that ''Blade'' owners

were "attempting to exercise

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

" on the ''Free Press'' and that since the non-compete agreement expired in 2005, the ''Blade'' use of it as a legal weapon in 2011 was "simply as a tool to economically harm" the ''Free Press'' and its publisher, and "well beyond the bounds of fair and legal competition."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blade, The 1835 establishments in Ohio Mass media in Toledo, Ohio Newspapers published in Ohio Publications established in 1835