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The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in
Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and 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 Un ...
''. With its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the ''
Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...
'', the ''Chronicle'' became Houston's newspaper of record. The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a privately held multinational corporate
media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to th ...
with $10 billion in revenues. The paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists,
editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...
, and
photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...
. The ''Chronicle'' has bureaus in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and Austin. It reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the " newspaper of record" of the Houston area. Previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue,
Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...
, the ''Houston Chronicle'' is now located at 4747 Southwest Freeway. It has two websites: chron.com and houstonchronicle.com. Chron.com is free and has breaking news, weather, traffic, pop culture, events listings, and city guides. Houstonchronicle.com, launched in 2012 and accessible after subscription purchase, contains analysis, reporting, columns, and everything found in the daily newspaper.


History

From its inception, the practices and policies of the ''Houston Chronicle'' were shaped by strong-willed personalities who were the publishers. The history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals.


1901–1926: Marcellus E. Foster era

The ''Houston Chronicle'' was founded in 1901 by a former reporter for the now-defunct ''
Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...
'', Marcellus E. Foster. Foster, who had been covering the Spindletop oil boom for the ''Post'', invested in Spindletop and took $30 of the return on that investment—at the time equivalent to a week's wages—and used it to fund the ''Chronicle''. The ''Chronicle''s first edition was published on October 14, 1901, and sold for two cents per copy, at a time when most papers sold for five cents each. At the end of its first month in operation, the ''Chronicle'' had a circulation of 4,378—roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time.The Handbook of Texas Online.
''Houston Chronicle''. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the ''Daily Herald''. In 1908, Foster asked Jesse H. Jones, a local businessman and prominent builder, to construct a new office and plant for the paper, "and offered half-interest in the newspaper as a down payment, with twenty years to pay the remainder. Jones agreed, and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South." Under Foster, the paper's circulation grew from about 7,000 in 1901 to 75,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sundays by 1926. Foster continued to write columns under the pen name ''Mefo'', and drew much attention in the 1920s for his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). He sold the rest of his interest to
Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones (April 5, 1874June 1, 1956) was an American Democratic politician and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. Jones managed a Tennessee tobacco factory at age fourteen, and at nineteen, he was put in charge of his uncle's lumbery ...
on June 26, 1926, and promptly retired.


Goodfellows

In 1911, city editor George Kepple started Goodfellows. On Christmas Eve 1911, Kepple passed a hat among the ''Chronicle''s reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe-shine boy. Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers. It has grown into a citywide program that provides needy children between the ages of two and ten with toys during the
winter holidays ''Winter Holidays'' ( it, Vacanze d'inverno) is a 1959 Italian comedy film directed by Camillo Mastrocinque and Giuliano Carnimeo (collaborating director), based on story by Oreste Biancoli. The music score is by Armando Trovajoli. Cast *Albert ...
. In 2003, Goodfellows distributed almost 250,000 toys to more than 100,000 needy children in the
Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...
area.


1926–1956: Jesse H. Jones era

In 1926,
Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones (April 5, 1874June 1, 1956) was an American Democratic politician and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. Jones managed a Tennessee tobacco factory at age fourteen, and at nineteen, he was put in charge of his uncle's lumbery ...
became the sole owner of the paper. He had approached Foster about selling, and Foster had answered, "What will you give me?" Jones described the buyout of Foster as follows: In 1937, Jesse H. Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly established Houston Endowment Inc. Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956. According to the '' Handbook of Texas'' online, the ''Chronicle'' generally represented very conservative political views during the 1950s:
... the ''Chronicle'' generally represented the very conservative political interests of the Houston business establishment. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of rapid economic growth on life in the city. It did not perform investigative journalism. This resulted in a stodgy newspaper that failed to capture the interests of newcomers to the city. By 1959, circulation of the rival ''Houston Post'' had pulled ahead of the ''Chronicle''.
Jones, a lifelong
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
who organized the Democratic National Convention to be in Houston in 1928, and who spent long years in public service first under the
Wilson administration Woodrow Wilson's tenure as the 28th president of the United States lasted from 4 March 1913 until 4 March 1921. He was largely incapacitated the last year and a half. He became president after winning the 1912 election. Wilson was a Democrat ...
, helping to found the Red Cross during World War I, and later famously under the Roosevelt administration, described the paper's mission in these terms:
I regard the publication of a newspaper as a distinct public trust, and one not to be treated lightly or abused for selfish purposes or to gratify selfish whims. A great daily newspaper can remain a power for good only so long as it is uninfluenced by unworthy motives, and unbought by the desire for gain. A newspaper which can be neither bought nor bullied is the greatest asset of a city or state. Naturally, a newspaper makes mistakes in judgment, as it does in type; but, so long as errors are honestly made, they are not serious when general results are considered.

The success or failure of a particular issue is of little consequence compared with the all-important principle of a fearless and honest newspaper. This I intend the ''Chronicle'' shall always be, a newspaper for all the people, democratic in fact and in principle, standing for the greatest good to the greatest number, championing and defending what it believes to be right, and condemning and opposing what it believes to be wrong.

Such have always been the policies of the ''Chronicle'' and to such it is now rededicated."

Under Jones' watch, the ''Chronicle'' bought
KTRH KTRH () is a commercial radio station licensed to Houston, Texas and owned by iHeartMedia that airs a talk radio format. Programming is also heard on co-owned KODA's HD 2 channel at , and the station uses the iHeartRadio platform to stream it ...
, one of Houston's oldest radio stations, in 1937. In 1954, Jones led a syndicate that signed on Houston's third television station,
KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Stre ...
.


1956–1965: John T. Jones era

The board of Houston Endowment named John T. Jones, nephew of Jesse H. Jones, as editor of the ''Chronicle''. Houston Endowment president, J. Howard Creekmore, was named publisher. In 1961, John T. Jones hired
William P. Steven William Pickford Steven (September 10, 1908 – August 6, 1991) was a noted American newspaper executive. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW-M) with a degree in journalism. In 1930, he ...
as editor. Steven had previously been editor of the ''
Tulsa Tribune The ''Tulsa Tribune'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1919 to 1992. Owned and run by three generations of the Jones family, the ''Tribune'' closed in 1992 after the termination of its joint operating agreement w ...
'' and the ''
Minneapolis Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
'', and credited with turning around the declining readership of both papers. One of his innovations was the creation of a regular help column called "Watchem", where ordinary citizens could voice their complaints. The ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' later called this column a pioneer and prototype of the modern newspaper "Action Line".Heise, Kenan. "W. P. Steven, Ex-newspaper Executive." ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
''. August 11, 1991. Retrieved October 5, 201

/ref> Steven's progressive political philosophy soon created conflict with the very conservative views of the Houston Endowment board, especially when he editorially supported the election of
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, the Democratic candidate for president. However, more than political philosophy was involved: Robert A. Caro revealed in his biography of Johnson that written assurance of this support from John T. Jones had been the price demanded by Johnson in January 1964 in return for approval of the merger of Houston's National Bank of Commerce, in which Jones had a financial interest, with another Houston bank, the Texas National. In 1964, the ''Chronicle'' purchased the assets of its evening newspaper competitor, the ''Houston Press'', becoming the only evening newspaper in the city. By then, the ''Chronicle'' had a circulation of 254,000 – the largest of any paper in Texas. The ''Atlantic Monthly'' credited the growth to the changes instigated by Steven.Bagdikian, Ben H
theatlantic.com "Houston's Shackled Press"
''Atlantic Monthly''. August 1966. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
In the summer of 1965, Jones decided to buy a local television station that was already owned by the Houston Endowment. He resigned from the Houston Endowment board to avoid a conflict of interest, though he remained as publisher of the ''Chronicle''. On September 2, 1965, Jones made a late-night visit to the Steven home, where he broke the news that the Endowment board had ordered him to dismiss Steven. Jones had to comply. On September 3, the paper published a story announcing that Everett Collier was now the new editor. No mention was made of Steven or the Houston Endowment board. ''Houston Post'' staff wrote an article about the change, but top management killed it. Only two weekly papers in Houston mentioned it: ''Forward Times'' (which targeted the African-American community) and the ''Houston Tribune'' (an ultra-conservative paper). Both papers had rather small circulations and no influence among the city's business community. The two major newspapers in Houston never mentioned Steven for many years thereafter.


1965–1987: J. Howard Creekmore era

John J. Jones left the ''Chronicle'' not long after Steven's ouster. J. Howard Creekmore, president of the Houston Endowment, took John Jones' place at the ''Chronicle''. Everett D. Collier replaced Steven as editor. Collier remained in this position until his retirement in 1979. J. Howard Creekmore was born in Abilene, Texas, in 1905. His parents died while he was young, so he was raised by his stepmother. The family moved to Houston in 1920. Howard enrolled in Rice Institute, where he graduated with degrees in history and English. After graduation, he went to work for Jesse Jones as a bookkeeper. Jones took an interest in the young man's career, and put him through law school. Creekmore passed the bar exam in 1932 and returned to work for Jones. He held several positions in the Jones business empire. In 1959, he was named to the board of Houston Endowment, and was promoted to president of the board in 1964. By 1965, Creekmore had persuaded other directors of Houston Endowment to sell several business properties, including the ''Chronicle''. Houston oilman John Mecom offered $85 million for the newspaper, its building, a 30 percent interest in Texas National Bank of Commerce, and the historic Rice Hotel. Early in 1966, Mecom encountered problems raising the additional cash to complete the transaction. He then began lining up potential buyers for the newspaper, which included non-Houstonians such as Sam Newhouse, Otis Chandler and the Scripps-Howard organization. Creekmore strongly believed that local persons should own the paper. He insisted that Mecom pay the $84 million debt immediately in cash. Mecom cancelled his purchase agreement. In 1968, the ''Chronicle'' set a Texas newspaper circulation record. In 1981, the business pages—which until then had been combined with sports—became its own section of the newspaper. Creekmore remained as publisher until Houston Endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corporation.


1987–present: Hearst Corporation era

On May 1, 1987, the Hearst Corporation purchased the ''Houston Chronicle'' from Houston Endowment for $415 million. Richard J. V. Johnson, who had joined the paper as a copy editor in 1956, and worked up to executive vice president in 1972, and president in 1973, remained as chairman and publisher until he retired on April 1, 2002. He was succeeded by Jack Sweeney. In 1994, the ''Chronicle'' switched to being a morning-only paper. With the demise of the ''Houston Post'' on April 18 the next year, the ''Chronicle'' became Houston's sole major daily newspaper. On October 18, 2008, the paper endorsed Senator
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
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, the first Democrat to be endorsed by the newspaper since 1964, when it endorsed Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. It endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, but endorsed
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 ...
in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020. Locally, the ''Chronicle'' endorsed Wendy Davis for governor in 2014, and
Sylvester Turner Sylvester Turner (born September 27, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who is serving as the 62nd mayor of Houston, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, Turner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until 201 ...
for mayor in 2015. Additionally, the ''Chronicle'' initially endorsed
Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...
for the 2016 Republican primary, but did not endorse any other candidate after he dropped out.


2018 source-fabrication scandal

In September 2018, then-executive editor Nancy Barnes released a statement on the ''Chronicle''s website notifying readers for the first time that the paper's Austin bureau chief, Mike Ward, had resigned and was the subject of an internal investigation after questions were raised by a staff member over fabricating sources. Barnes opted not to disclose the source-fabrication or Ward's resignation to ''Chronicle'' readers and the general public until she was contacted by reporters at other outlets pursuing a story about the ''Chronicle''s scandal—one full week after Ward had resigned. By the time Barnes informed the public about what would turn into the biggest journalism scandal of 2018, it had already become one of the worst kept secrets in Austin among the capitol press corps that writes about Texas politicians. The scandal had also become popular fodder among staffers who work at the capital. Within 45 minutes of being contacted by a freelance reporter for the ''Texas Observer'', Barnes hastily issued a press release announcing that one of her reporters bad been caught making up sources over the course of several years. Barnes never explained why the ''Chronicle'' decided against being transparent to it readers immediately, instead of waiting for word to leak to the extent that other news outlets started planning stories. The sources being questioned in Ward's reporting were the product of "man-on-the-street" interviews from a story dealing with rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Harvey. Barnes said ''Houston Chronicle'' researchers had problems finding a number of sources quoted in Ward's story, so the newspaper hired investigative journalist David Wood, a Pulitzer Prize winner. On Nov. 8, 2018, one day before Barnes left for a position as senior vice president of news at National Public Radio, the ''Houston Chronicle'' released some of Wood's findings. The paper announced it was retracting a total of eight stories. Barnes later went on to tell ''Columbia Journalism Review'' that the widespread fabrication apparent in Ward's articles was unprecedented, in her experience: "I've been an editor a long time and I have never seen anything like this, period.". None of the ''Chronicle''s editors responsible for overseeing Ward's stories—including then-managing editor Vernon Loeb—assumed any responsibility for the fact that one of their reporters had been cheating for years under their noses. In many instances over the course of years, Loeb worked directly with Ward and even rewrote his stories for final publication. The ''Austin American Statesman'', where Ward worked as a reporter for 25 years covering the state's political class prior to joining the ''Houston Chronicle'' in 2014, also conducted an internal review of "his final years" of work at the paper. A copy of the original story that led to the investigation has been removed from the ''Chronicle''s website. But Austin-based NPR affiliate KUT interviewed Ward for the radio in the days after the story ran and still has the story posted on its website, despite the fact that the sources used in Ward's reporting are suspected of being fake.


Headquarters


4747 Southwest Freeway

On July 21, 2014, the ''Chronicle'' announced that its Downtown employees were moving to the 610 Loop campus, at the intersection of the
610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the ...
and U.S. Route 59/
I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...
( Southwest Freeway). The facility, previously used as the ''
Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...
'' headquarters, will have a total of seven buildings with a total of over of space. The original building is a 1970s four story " New Brutalist" building. As of 2016 the building housed the ''Chronicle'' Production Department, as well as the offices of the Spanish newspaper ''
La Voz de Houston ''La Voz de Houston'' (Spanish: "The Voice of Houston") is a Spanish-language weekly newspaper distributed by the ''Houston Chronicle'', and a subsidiary of the ''Houston Chronicle''. The newspaper's offices are located in the ''Houston Chronicle ...
''.


801 Texas Avenue

The ''Houston Chronicle'' building in
Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...
was the headquarters of the ''Houston Chronicle''. The facility included a loading dock, office space, a press room, and production areas. It had ten stories above ground and three stories below ground. The printing presses used by the newspaper spanned three stories. The presses were two stories below ground and one above. In the Downtown facility, the presses there were decommissioned in the late 2000s. The newsroom within the facility had bull-pen style offices with a few private cubicles and offices on the edges. The facility was connected to the downtown
Houston tunnel system The Houston tunnel system is a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that links 95 full city blocks below Houston's downtown streets. It is approximately long. There are similar systems in Chicago, Dallas, Oklahoma Ci ...
. Turner wrote that "in recent decades," 801 Texas Avenue "offered viewers an architectural visage of unadorned boxiness.... An accretion of five buildings made into one, it featured a maze of corridors, cul-de-sacs and steps that seemed to spring on strollers at the most unexpected times." The facility, which was 106 years old in 2016, was originally four separate structures, which were joined together to make one building.
Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones (April 5, 1874June 1, 1956) was an American Democratic politician and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. Jones managed a Tennessee tobacco factory at age fourteen, and at nineteen, he was put in charge of his uncle's lumbery ...
erected the first ''Chronicle'' building, a narrow and long structure clad in granite, on the corner of Travis Street and Texas Avenue in 1910. The second building, the Majestic Theater, was built west of the ''Chronicle'' building. The second building built by Jones opened in 1910. In 1918, the third Jones building, Milam Building, opened west of the theater. An annex was built on the north side of the main building in 1938 and gained a fifth floor in the 1960s. The fifth building was a production plant, built north of the original four buildings. They were joined together in a major renovation and modernisation project, wjhich was completed in the late 1960s. On April 25, 2017, it was imploded and reduced to rubble. The site is now occupied by the Texas Tower.


People


Awards

*2000: Houston's M. D. Anderson Cancer Center gave the ''Chronicle'' its '' Joseph T. Ainsworth Volunteer Community Award'' for making the newspaper available at a "greatly reduced rate" to the hospital and its patients. *2002:
Holocaust Museum Houston The Holocaust Museum Houston is located in Houston's Museum District, in Texas. It is the fourth largest holocaust museum in the U.S. It was opened in 1996. The Boniuk Center houses Holocaust Museum Houston's Education Department, including f ...
awarded the ''Chronicle'' its "Guardian of the Human spirit" award. The presenter, Janis Goldstein, said the award was given "because the ''Houston Chronicle'' embraces the causes most dear to it with a depth and scope that goes well beyond what is expected." Also, that "the ''Chronicle'' gives of itself to build a community that will embrace tolerance, understanding, and diversity and will speak out against prejudice and unfairness of any kind."


Individual awards

* 1963: William Porterfield won an Ernie Pyle Award. * 1989–1997: Carlos Antonio Rios, a ''Chronicle'' photographer since 1978, has repeatedly been honored for his photojournalism by the
National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has approxim ...
. * 2003: James Howard Gibbons received third place in the "Hearst Distinguished Journalism Awards", an internal contest held between Hearst's newspapers, for his editorial piece "When Will the U.S. Liberate Texas?" *
Leon Hale Leon Hale (May 30, 1921March 27, 2021) was an American journalist and author. He worked as a columnist for the ''Houston Chronicle'' from 1984 until his retirement in 2014. Before that, he had a column in the ''Houston Post'' for 32 years. He ...
, a long-time columnist and author of 11 books, recently received the Lon Tinkle Award for Excellence Sustained Throughout a Career from the Texas Institute of Letters, of which Hale is a member. * Jason Witmer won first place in the 48 Hour–Web category of the National Press Photographers Association's annual Best of Photojournalism in 2010 for his piece, "Too Manly for Quilt Show". Whitmer won second place in the News Feature–Web category for "Suddenly homeless in Houston".


Pulitzer Prize

* 2022:
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style ...
.
Lisa Falkenberg Lisa Dawn Falkenberg (born July 12, 1978) is an American journalist. She is the ''Houston Chronicle'' vice president/editor of opinion. Early life and education Falkenberg was born on July 12, 1978, and raised in Seguin, Texas. She began her car ...
, Michael Lindenberger, Joe Holley and Luis Carrasco * 2015:
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary is an award administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism "for distinguished commentary, using any available journalistic tool". It is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are ...
. Lisa Falkenberg — 2015 winner for commentary. "For vividly-written, groundbreaking columns about grand jury abuses that led to a wrongful conviction and uncovered other egregious problems in the legal and immigration systems." The newspaper and its staff have several times been Pulitzer finalists: * Dudley Althaus – 1992 finalist in international reporting: "For his articles on the causes of the cholera epidemic in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
." * Tony Freemantle – 1997 finalist in international reporting: "For his reporting from Rwanda,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, El Salvador and
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
on why crimes against humanity go unstopped and unpunished." * Nick Anderson – 2007 finalist for editorial cartooning: "For his pungent cartoons on an array of issues, and for his bold use of animation." Anderson won the Pulitzer in 2005 when working for ''The Courier-Journal'', Louisville, Ky. * Staff – 2009 finalist for breaking news coverage: "For taking full advantage of online technology and its newsroom expertise to become a lifeline to the city when Hurricane Ike struck, providing vital minute-by-minute updates on the storm, its flood surge and its aftermath." * Staff - 2017 finalist for public service. "For exposing the grave injustice of arbitrary cost-cutting by the State of Texas that denied tutoring, counseling and other vital special education services to families, hindering the futures of tens of thousands of children. * Joe Holley and Evan Mintz — 2017 finalist for editorial writing. "For editorials on gun laws, gun culture and gun tragedies that combined wit, eloquence and moral power in a fine brew of commonsense argumentation." * Staff - 2018 finalist for breaking news. "For comprehensive and dynamic coverage of Hurricane Harvey that captured real-time developments of the unprecedented scale of the disaster and provided crucial information to its community during the storm and its aftermath."


Other notable people

* Fernando Dovalina, Jr. (former assistant managing editor) *
Maxine Mesinger Maxine Mesinger, born Maxine Ethel David (December 19, 1925 - January 19, 2001Pugh, Clifford. (). ''Houston Chronicle'' at the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram''. Friday January 19, 2011. Retrieved on November 20, 2011.) was a celebrity gossip columnist ...
(gossip columnist) *
Leon Hale Leon Hale (May 30, 1921March 27, 2021) was an American journalist and author. He worked as a columnist for the ''Houston Chronicle'' from 1984 until his retirement in 2014. Before that, he had a column in the ''Houston Post'' for 32 years. He ...
(columnist) * Richard Justice (sports writer) * Heidi Van Horne (automotive columnist) * Ken Hammond (editor, Texas Magazine, Chronical Sunday Edition) * Sunny Nash (contributor, columnist, photographer,
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
) *
Marjorie Paxson Marjorie Paxson (August 13, 1923 – June 17, 2017) was an American newspaper journalist, editor, and publisher during an era in American history when the women's liberation movement was setting milestones by tackling the barriers of discriminat ...
(influential
women's page The women's page (sometimes called home page or women's section) of a newspaper was a section devoted to covering news assumed to be of interest to women. Women's pages started out in the 19th century as society pages and eventually morphed into ...
editor) * Julie Mason, newspaper and radio journalist


Other publications

In April 2004 the ''Houston Chronicle'' began carrying a Spanish-language supplement, the entertainment magazine '' La Vibra''. ''La Vibra'' caters to speakers of Spanish and bilingual English-Spanish speakers, and is mainly distributed in Hispanic neighborhoods. In December 2004 the ''Chronicle'' acquired the Spanish-language newspaper ''
La Voz de Houston ''La Voz de Houston'' (Spanish: "The Voice of Houston") is a Spanish-language weekly newspaper distributed by the ''Houston Chronicle'', and a subsidiary of the ''Houston Chronicle''. The newspaper's offices are located in the ''Houston Chronicle ...
''.


Criticism


Robert Jensen on the September 11 attacks

In the weeks following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, the ''Houston Chronicle'' published a series of opinion articles by
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
journalism professor Robert Jensen that asserted the United States was "just as guilty" as the hijackers in committing acts of violence and compared that attack with the history of U.S. attacks on civilians in other countries. The opinion piece resulted in hundreds of angry letters to the editor and reportedly over 4,000 angry responses to Jensen. Among them were claims of insensitivity against the newspaper and of giving an unduly large audience to a position characterized as being extremist. University of Texas president
Larry Faulkner Larry Ray Faulkner (born November 26, 1944) is an American academic and businessman. He served as the twenty-seventh president of The University of Texas at Austin from 1998 to 2006, and as the president of the Houston Endowment Inc. from 2006 ...
issued a response denouncing Jensen's as "a fountain of undiluted foolishness on issues of public policy", noting " is not speaking in the University's name and may not speak in its name."


Light rail controversy

The document was online for only an hour, but long enough to be viewed by some readers. Soon after, the ''Houston Review'', a conservative newspaper published by students at the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
, printed the memo's full text and an accompanying commentary that criticized the paper. Harris County District Attorney Rosenthal later dismissed the ''Chronicle''s complaint, finding it without merit on the grounds that the statute did not apply. Rosenthal's involvement in the probe itself came under fire by the ''
Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...
'', which in editorials questioned whether Rosenthal was too close to TTM: from 2000 to 2004, Rosenthal accepted some $30,000 in donations from known TTM supporters.


Sandoval family interview

In early 2004, ''Chronicle'' reporter Lucas Wall interviewed the family of Leroy Sandoval, a Marine from Houston who was killed in Iraq. After the article appeared, Sandoval's stepfather and sister called into Houston talk radio station KSEV and said that a sentence alleging "President Bush's failure to find weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq misrepresented their views on the war and President
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 ...
, that Wall had pressured them for a quotation that criticized Bush, and that the line alleging Bush's "failure" was included against the wishes of the family. A dispute ensued between KSEV radio show host/owner
Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to: * Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player * Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist * Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
and an assistant managing editor at the ''Chronicle''. The incident prompted Patrick to join the call for a boycott of the paper.Abrahams, Tom.
Radio talk show host launches boycott against local newspaper
" ''
KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Stre ...
''. April 4, 2004. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
The story was also picked up by the local Houston television stations and, a week later, the
O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October ...
. Eventually, ''Chronicle'' publisher Jack Sweeney contacted the Sandoval family to apologize.


Purchase of ''Houston Post'' assets

Internal memos obtained via FOIA from the
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
antitrust attorneys who investigated the closing of the ''Houston Post'' said the ''Chronicle's'' parent organization struck a deal to buy the ''Post'' six months before it closed. The memos, first obtained by the alternative paper the ''Houston Press'', say the ''Chronicle's'' conglomerate and the ''Post'' "reached an agreement in October, 1994, for the sale of Houston Post Co.'s assets for approximately $120 million."


Tom DeLay poll

In January 2006 the ''Chronicle'' hired Richard Murray of the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
to conduct an election survey in the district of U.S. Rep.
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...
, in light of his 2005 indictment by District Attorney
Ronnie Earle Ronald Dale Earle (February 23, 1942 – April 5, 2020) was an American politician and judge who was, from January 1977 to January 2009, the District Attorney for Travis County, Texas. He became nationally known for filing charges against House ...
for alleged campaign money violations. The ''Chronicle'' said that its poll showed "severely eroded support for U.S. Rep Tom DeLay in his district, most notably among Republicans who have voted for him before." Former Texas Secretary of State
Jack Rains Jack Morris Rains (born November 23, 1937) is a Houston, Texas, attorney who was the 95th Secretary of State of Texas, having served from 1987 to 1989. He left the position to contest unsuccessfully for the Republican gubernatorial nomination ...
contacted the ''Chronicle's'' James Howard Gibbons, alleging that the poll appeared to incorrectly count non-Republican Primary voters in its sample. Rains also asserted that Murray had a conflict of interest in the poll, as Murray's son Keir was a political consultant working for
Nick Lampson Nicholas Valentino Lampson (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician and restaurateur who is a former Democratic Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District and the 9th Congressional District of Texas. Early life, educ ...
, DeLay's Democratic challenger in 2006.Lonestartimes.com
/ref>


Availability of ''Houston Post'' articles

Some ''
Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...
'' articles had been made available in the archives of the ''Houston Chronicle'' website, but by 2005 they were removed. The ''Houston Chronicle'' online editor Mike Read said that the ''Houston Chronicle'' decided to remove ''Houston Post'' articles from the website after the 2001
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
''
New York Times Co. v. Tasini ''New York Times Co. v. Tasini'', 533 U.S. 483 (2001), is a leading decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of copyright in the contents of a newspaper database. It held that ''The New York Times'', in licensing back issues of the ...
'' decision; the newspaper originally planned to filter articles not allowed by the decision and to post articles that were not prohibited by the decision. The ''Houston Chronicle'' decided not to post or re-post any more ''Houston Post'' articles because of difficulties in complying with the ''New York Times Co. v. Tasini'' decision with the resources that were available to the newspaper.Newkirk, Jim
"Houston Post archives permanently unavailable online, maybe, likely, really..."
''Houston Chronicle''. July 1, 2005. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
People interested in reading ''Houston Post'' articles may view them on
microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...
. The
Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 1 ...
has the newspaper on microfilm from 1880 to 1995 and the ''Houston Post'' Index from 1976 to 1994. The 1880–1900 microfilm is in the Texas and Local History Department of the
Julia Ideson Building The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, who served as the system's first head librarian for 40 years. The Spanish Renaissance-style buil ...
, while 1900–1995 is in the Jesse H. Jones Building, the main building of the Central Library. In addition, the M.D. Anderson Library at the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
has the ''Houston Post'' available on microfilm from 1880 to 1995, and the ''Houston Post'' Index from 1976 to 1979 and from 1987 to 1994.


See also

*''
Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...
'' *''
Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...
''


References


Citations


Sources

*


External links

*
''Chron.com''



''Houston Chronicle'': History of the Largest Newspaper in Texas
{{Hearst Hearst Communications publications Newspapers published in Houston Newspapers established in 1901 Daily newspapers published in Texas 1901 establishments in Texas