The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S.
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 poli ...
based in
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...
, that serves readers along the Mississippi
Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan, and its headquarters is in the city of
Gulfport.
It is owned by
The McClatchy Company
McClatchy Media Company, or simply McClatchy and MCC, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law. Originally based in Sacramento, California, United States, and known as The McClatchy Company, it b ...
, one of the largest newspaper publishers in the United States.
History
It was founded in 1884 as ''The Weekly Herald'', based in Biloxi. It expanded its coverage into Gulfport in 1905, and by 1934 had changed its name to ''The Daily Herald'', becoming an evening and Saturday newspaper.
The State Record Company bought the paper from its longtime owners, the Wilkes family, in 1968. Around this time, it moved its Saturday edition to morning publication and added a Sunday edition. It added a morning companion paper, the ''South Mississippi Sun'', in 1973. That edition ran until 1985, when the two papers were merged as the ''Sun Herald'', a seven-day all-day paper. The evening edition was dropped in 1986, shortly before State Record merged with
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...
.
[
The ''Sun Herald'' offices and printing presses were squarely hit by ]Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
in August 2005, but the newspaper never missed an edition. Some of the staff evacuated in advance of the storm to Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...
, where then-owner Knight Ridder owned the '' Ledger-Enquirer''. From the Columbus paper's newsroom, the ''Sun Herald'' editors and designers, with the help of Knight Ridder journalists from across the country, produced daily editions of the ''Sun Herald'' for eleven days, until power could be restored to Biloxi and the newspaper could be produced at its plant there.
The ''Sun Herald'' was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, along with '' The Times-Picayune'' of New Orleans, for coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. It is the first Pulitzer for the newspaper. The same year, Knight Ridder was purchased by McClatchy.
In April 2024, the newspaper announced it would decrease the number of print editions to two a week: Wednesdays and Sundays.
See also
* List of newspapers in Mississippi
References
External links
Official website
Newspapers published in Mississippi
McClatchy publications
Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers
Harrison County, Mississippi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Publications established in 1884
1884 establishments in Mississippi
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners
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