''The Vindicator'' 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, spor ...

serving Youngstown,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

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and the Mahoning County region as well as southern

Trumbull County Trumbull County is a county in the far northeast portion of U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 201,977. Its county seat is Warren, which developed industry along the Mahoning River. Trumbull County is part of the ...

and northern Columbiana County. ''The Vindicator'' was established in 1869. As of September 1, 2019, ''The Vindicator'' is owned by

Ogden Newspapers Inc. Ogden Newspapers Inc. is a Wheeling, West Virginia based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and shoppers guides. The company was founded by H.C. Ogden in 1890, and is currently run by the family of his gra ...

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. The '' Tribune Chronicle'' and ''The Vindicator'' are published by Charles Jarvis, with Brenda Linert as editor. The new owners of ''The Vindicator'' announced a welcome to the new version of the Vindicator.

History (1869-1984)

The paper began in 1869 when it launched as ''The Mahoning Vindicator''. The paper became the Youngstown Vindicator shortly after. During the 1920s,

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

members began protesting outside of then owner William F. Maag, Jr.'s house in response to the paper's reporting of local KKK activities. Its reporting on the KKK, the mafia, political corruption, and big business matters garnered the paper a reputation of fearlessness. Almost 70 politicians, mafia members, and business people were convicted of criminal acts as a result of the paper's reporting in the late 1980s. In 1984, the paper became ''The Vindicator''.

The Vindicator's past owners

Before September 1, 2019, ''The Vindicator'' was locally owned by the Maag family (longtime area residents) and run by the now ceased Vindicator Printing Company, which still runs local NBC affiliate

WFMJ-TV WFMJ-TV (channel 21) is a television station in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is locally owned by the Maag family. WFMJ-TV's studios are located on West Boardman Street in downtown Youngstown, and i ...

and WFMJ's

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compres ...

, CW affiliate WBCB. Historically, the paper is known for its reputation of fearless reporting on matters relating to local corruption, the mafia, and the Ku Klux Klan. On August 16, 2019, ''The Vindicator'' and '' Tribune Chronicle'' reached an agreement for the Tribune Chronicle to acquire The Vindicator’s subscription list, The Vindicator masthead and the Vindy.com domain, according to The Vindicator former general manager Mark Brown. After August 31, 2019, The Vindicator temporarily ceased publication and operations were turned over to the staff of its former primary competitor, the Tribune Chronicle, in nearby

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in Northeast Ohio, northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39 ...

. The Tribune Chronicle's traditional news coverage area is

and parts of northeastern Portage County as opposed to the broader news coverage area of The Vindicator. The Tribune Chronicle has now published The Vindicator for the Mahoning County region since September 1, 2019.

Switching eras

The Vindicator published a special final edition from the former owners of The Vindicator Printing Company on the evening of August 30, 2019. The former staff gathered that evening to print more than 34,000 of the final edition papers. The paper produced around 3,500 more copies than usual to meet the high demand for the final printing. The former employees, their families and friends gathered at the former press room at 9 o'clock August, 30, 2019 evening to see the former printing presses fired up one last time. The former staff members included Publisher Betty Brown Jagnow, General Manager Mark Brown, Editor Todd Franko, Politics & Community Columnist Bertram de Souza and Chief Photographer Robert K. Yosay.

Sections (before August 31, 2019)

Monday through Saturday, the newspaper publishes three sections: * Local and national news as well as editorial (Section A) * Sports and weather (Section B) * Classifieds, Valley Life and comics (Section C) Each Thursday before August 31, 2019, ''The Vindicator'' prints ''Valley 24'', a

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

style entertainment guide for the coming weekend. On Saturdays, a TV listings magazine is included. The Sunday edition is, like most other newspapers, greatly expanded. Each Sunday, ''The Vindicator'' publishes a page entitled "Connected" which includes curated, Youngstown-themed social media posts and a column written by social media researcher and critic Adam Earnheardt. In addition to the sections mentioned, there is also sections dedicated to business, entertainment, life and work, and health, among others. As of September 1, 2019, TICKET, a special section produced by the Tribune Chronicle and led by Andy Gray, the Tribune Chronicle’s veteran entertainment writer, each Thursday has provided award-winning coverage of the local entertainment scene. TICKET now will be published in The Vindicator edition as well.

Websites (before August 31, 2019)

''The Vindicator'' operated four primary websites: the news and information site vindy.com; a local employment portal vindyjobs.com; vindywheels.com, a local automotive shopping site; and vindyhomes.com, a local real estate site. The vast majority of content available on vindy.com is provided at no charge. There is, however, a "digital edition" available on the site at the same subscription rate as the printed edition. It is delivered in

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

format. ''The Vindicator'' breaks local news on its primary website, vindy.com, throughout the day and night. This feature is branded "News Watch" and is updated more frequently than the general site. As of September 1, 2019, vindy.com is controlled by the '' Tribune Chronicle''. The vindy.com website, post September 1, 2019, is a completely new website and does not host any older articles or content archives. Additionally, the Disqus commenting system which was on the previous website is gone as the new owners have opted for comment free articles. The older articles and content archives can be found by the old owners at vindyarchives.com website.

Strike action

The paper's staff has gone on strike twice. The first strike was in 1964 and lasted nearly eight months; the strikers published the ''Steel Valley News'' during this time. The second strike lasted from November 2004 to July 2005, and the strikers published their own paper, ''The Valley Voice'', during this time.

Editorial changes

Prior to August 31, 2019, Todd Franko, metro editor of '' The Rockford Register Star'' in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

, was named editor of ''The Vindicator'' on February 12, 2007. He succeeds Paul C. Jagnow, who retired in 2006. As of September 1, 2019, ''The Vindicator'' is now published by '' Tribune Chronicle'' of which Brenda Linert is the editor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vindicator (Ohio newspaper), The Newspapers published in Ohio Youngstown, Ohio Publications established in 1869 1869 establishments in Ohio

External links

''The Vindicator''
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::September 1984-June 2009
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via Vindicator Printing Co. ::March 2001-August 2019