''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

daily 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 ...

which is owned by

Postmedia Network Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...

. It is published in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspaper currently published in Montreal. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the French-speaking province's last two English-language dailies; the other is the '' Sherbrooke Record'', which serves the anglophone community in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

and the Eastern Townships southeast of Montreal. Founded in 1778 by Fleury Mesplet, ''The Gazette'' is Quebec's oldest daily newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in Canada. The oldest newspaper overall is the English-language ''

Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (journalist), William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest running newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English langu ...

'', which was established in 1764 and is published weekly.

History

Fleury Mesplet founded a French-language weekly newspaper called ''La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal'' on June 3, 1778. It was the first entirely French-language newspaper in Canada. The paper did not accept advertising aside for the various books that Mesplet also published. The articles were meant to promote discussion, and it focused on

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, as well as various anecdotal articles,

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and letters.

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

encouraged Mesplet to found the newspaper to persuade Canadians to join the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. A secret resolution of Congress dispatched Mesplat and his printing equipment to Canada in February 1776 "to establish a free press...for the frequent publication of such pieces as may be of service to the cause of the United Colonies." Mesplet, an immigrant from France, had previously lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and supported the Americans when they occupied Montreal during the war. The newspaper was shut down in 1779 when Mesplet and the editor, Valentin Jautard, were arrested for

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

and imprisoned for three years. Mesplet began a second weekly, ''The Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal'', on August 25, 1785, which had a dual French-English bilingual format similar to that used by the '' Quebec Gazette''. Its offices were located in the house of Joseph Lemoyne de Longueuil on rue de la Capitale. French columns were in the left-hand column and English columns in the right-hand column. The columns were originally written in French and translated to English by Valentin Jautard, who served as editor until his death in 1787. The columns were mostly on education, religion, and literature, and after 1788 on politics. Foreign and local news made up the rest of the paper. The paper took a Voltairian and anticlerical stance, wanted Quebec to have its own legislative assembly and sought to import the principles of the French Revolution to Quebec. The newspaper also introduced advertising and announcements, taking up half of four pages. It is the direct ancestor of the current newspaper. The newspaper did well, and Mesplet's operation moved to Notre-Dame Street in 1787. Mesplet continued to operate the newspaper until his death in 1794. Following Mesplet's death, his widow published the newspaper for several issues, but the paper ceased publication soon after. Two rivals, Louis Roy and Edward Edwards fought over the right to publish the newspaper over the course of two years. Edwards eventually won the printing press and newspaper and continued operations until his assets were seized in 1808. The newspaper was then the property of James Brown for fourteen years. In 1822, it was sold to businessman Thomas Andrew Turner who converted into an English-only paper in 1822. Under Turner, ''The Gazette'' identified with the interests of anglophone business leaders in their fight with the Patriote movement. On April 25, 1849, ''The Gazette'' published a special edition in which its editor-in-chief, James Moir Ferres, called the "

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

" residents to arms after Royal Assent of a compensation law for Lower Canada. This was among the main events leading to the burning of the Parliament Buildings. Ferres was subsequently arrested, though soon released on bail and set free without trial. In 1939, ''The Gazette'' hired its first editorial cartoonist – John Collins, who worked a term of 43 years. In 1968, ''The Gazette'' was acquired by the Southam newspaper chain, which owned major dailies across Canada. For many years, ''The Gazette'' was caught in a three-way fight for the English newspaper audience in Montreal with the tabloid '' Montreal Herald'' and the broadsheet '' Montreal Star''. ''The Gazette'' was second in circulation to the ''Montreal Star'', which sold more newspapers in the city and had a significant national reputation in the first half of the 20th century. The ''Montreal Herald'' closed in 1957, after publishing for 146 years. The ''Montreal Star'', part of the FP Publications chain (which owned the '' Winnipeg Free Press'' and, at the time, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

''), endured a long strike and ceased publication in 1979, less than a year after the strike was settled. Gazette reader

In 1988, a competing English-language daily, the '' Montreal Daily News'', was launched. The ''Montreal Daily News'' adopted a tabloid format and introduced a Sunday edition, forcing ''The Gazette'' to respond. After the ''Montreal Daily News'' closed in 1989, after less than two years in operation, ''The Gazette'' kept its Sunday edition going until August 2010. In 1996, the Southam papers were bought by Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. Then in August 2000, Hollinger sold the Southam newspapers, including ''The Gazette'', to Canwest Global Communications Corp., controlled by the Winnipeg-based Asper family. In 2010, a new media group, Postmedia, bought ''The Gazette'' and other papers from the financially troubled Canwest. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, ''The Gazette'' published a facsimile of one of its earliest issues. Much effort was made to use a type of paper that imitated 18th century paper, with fake chainlines and laidlines to make the paper look old.

Today

Today, ''The Gazette''s audience is primarily Quebec's English-speaking community. ''The Gazette'' is one of the three dailies published in Montreal, the other two being French-language newspapers: ''

Le Journal de Montréal is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. Established by Pierre Pé ...

'' and ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

''. ('' La Presse'' is only published digitally since 2018.) In recent years, ''The Gazette'' has stepped up efforts to reach bilingual francophone professionals and adjusted its coverage accordingly. The current editor-in-chief is Lucinda Chodan. The deputy editor is Basem Boshra and the associate managing editor is Jeff Blond. On April 30, 2013,

announced that it would be eliminating the role of publisher at each of its newspapers, including ''The Gazette''. Instead, the company's 10 newspapers were overseen by regional publishers, one each for the Pacific, the Prairies and eastern Canada. Alan Allnutt, who was the publisher of ''The Gazette'' at the time, became the regional publisher of Postmedia's

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

papers. Gerry Nott, publisher of the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', now also oversees ''The Gazette'', the '' Windsor Star'' and Postmedia's flagship title, the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

''. On May 5, 2014, it was announced that printing of ''The Gazette'' would be contracted out to Transcontinental Media in August 2014 and that the existing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce facility would be closed, resulting in a loss of 54 full-time and 61 part-time positions at the paper. The August 16, 2014, issue was the final issue printed by the Postmedia-owned facility. On October 21, 2014, ''The Gazette'' was relaunched as part of the Postmedia Reimagined project, adopting a similar look, and a similar suite of digital platforms, to its sister paper, the ''Ottawa Citizen'', which had relaunched earlier in the year. As part of the relaunch, the paper was officially renamed the ''Montreal Gazette'', reflecting its longstanding common name outside its city of publication (as well as its Web domain, ''montrealgazette.com''). The paper had not included Montreal in its masthead in several years. With its December 1, 2023 issue, ''The Gazette'' once again dropped "Montreal" from its masthead and returned to its pre-2014 name and logo.

Sections

Weekdays

*Section A — Local, national and international news, opinion columns, editorials, editorial cartoon, letters to the editor, business news, sports news, arts and entertainment news *Section B — Sports (Mondays and Thursdays), Business (Tuesdays), Food (Wednesdays), Movies (Fridays) *Section C — Driving and classifieds (Mondays)

Saturday

*Section A — Local, national and international news *Section B — Saturday Extra: Feature stories and opinion columns, editorials, editorial cartoon, letters to the editor *Section C — Business news and weather *Section D — Sports *Section E — Culture *Section F — Homefront, classified, working *Section G — Travel *Section H — Weekend Life *Section W — Diversions

Editors-in-chief

* Mark Harrison (1977–1989) * Norman Webster (1989–1993) * Joan Fraser (1993–1996) * Alan Allnutt (1996–2000) * Peter Stockland (2000–2004) * Andrew Phillips (2004–2009) * Raymond Brassard (2010–2013) * Lucinda Chodan (2013–2022) * Bert Archer (2022–2023) * Marilena Lucci (2023–Present)

Present personalities

* Mike Boone *Bill Brownstein * Josh Freed *

L. Ian MacDonald L. (Lawrence) Ian MacDonald (born 1947) is a Canadians, Canadian writer, columnist, broadcaster, public speaker, and diplomat.

* Terry Mosher (Aislin) * Joseph A. Schwarcz * Jack Todd

Past personalities

Nick Auf der Maur Nikolaus Erik Auf der Maur (April 10, 1942 – April 7, 1998)Downey, Donn. ''Montreal columnist chronicled cancer fight'', A1. ''The Globe and Mail'', April 9, 1998. was a Canadian journalist and politician from Montreal, Quebec. He was the fa ...

* Dave Bist * Ted Blackman * Richard Burnett * Edgar Andrew Collard * John Collins * Michael Farber * Red Fisher * William Johnson * Dane Lanken * Ken McKenzie *

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...

* Tommy Schnurmacher * Eric Siblin * Paul Wells * Robert Smeaton White

References

External links

*
Official mobile website
.
Digital microfilm archive 1878–1986
from

Google news Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google ...

archive
Bicentennial issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal Gazette Newspapers published in Montreal Postmedia Network publications English-language newspapers published in Quebec Publications established in 1778 Daily newspapers published in Quebec 1778 establishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)