Founded in 1950 by David A. Stein and wife Celia Stein, ''The Riverdale Press'' is a

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly n ...

that covers the Northwest

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

neighborhoods of Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil,

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

Kingsbridge Heights Kingsbridge Heights is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the northwest Bronx, New York City. Its boundaries are Van Cortlandt Park to the north, Jerome Avenue to the east, Kingsbridge Road to the south, and the Major Deegan Expr ...

and

Van Cortlandt Village Van Cortlandt Village is a subsection of the Kingsbridge neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 8. Named after Van Cortlandt Park, it is bordered by the Major Deegan Expressway to ...

, as well as the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

neighborhood of Marble Hill.

History

In the 1950s, The Press fought to rezone Riverdale to preserve private homes and open space threatened by development. It played a key role in the creation of new public schools to accommodate the residents of newly built apartments and in rescuing a large tract of land in Spuyten Duyvil for a park. Later, it advocated creation of a special natural area district to protect the area's distinctive trees and rocks. In 1978, Bernard Stein succeeded his father as editor, gaining for ''The Press'' a reputation as a crusading newspaper. "''The Riverdale Press'' courted controversy and cast a tough, skeptical eye on local officials, who ignored the paper at their peril," wrote ''The New York Times'' ''The Press'' was the first newspaper to disclose corruption on the city's community school boards; its reporting on the construction of the largest medical waste incinerator in the state in the South Bronx led to the indictment of the chair of the local community board and, eventually, to shuttering the incinerator. For that effort, the paper earned the highest honor of the city's Deadline Club, the James Wright Brown Public Service Award, beating out Newsday and Forbes Magazine, the runners-up. Bernard Stein's brother, Richard, was the paper's general manager, and also responsible for its design, including the creation of its current flag, used almost continuously since 1971. On David Stein's death in 1982, the brothers became co-publishers of ''The Press''. In June 2008, the brothers sold ''The Press'' to another pair of brothers, Stuart and Clifford Richner of Richner Communications, publishers of 28 Long Island community newspapers. The Steins remain on the masthead as publishers emeriti. Michael Hinman was editor between 2017 and 2022, before being promoted to executive editor over more than two dozen publications with the parent company, including ''The Riverdale Press''. During Hinman's tenure, ''The Press'' won 40

New York Press Association The New York Press Association (NYPA) is a member organization of newspapers in New York State. The NYPA provides editorial assistance, advice and counsel to its 800 member newspapers, advocates for best journalism practices, provides a libel h ...

awards, including top honors for general excellence in 2020 and 2021.

Firebombing incident

At about 5 a.m. on February 28, 1989, two men hurled firebombs at the offices of ''The Press''. No one was hurt, but the first floor of the two-story building was consumed by the flames. The bombing took place five days after the newspaper published an editorial defending the right to read

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...

's novel ''

The Satanic Verses ''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism ...

'', while the editorial was still on newsstands. A call to 911 claiming responsibility said the newspaper was bombed in retaliation for its editorial. The Society of Professional Journalists gave the paper's co-publishers Richard and Bernard Stein its First Amendment Award for their courage in continuing to publish despite the severe damage caused to the paper's offices by the firebombing. The editorial that enraged the bombers is posted on Bernard Stein's blog. For 10 years on the anniversary of the bombing-for as long as Rushdie remained in hiding-the paper published an editorial about the author, both to call attention to his plight and to demonstrate that the bombers had not intimidated the paper.

Pulitzer Prize

In 1998, ''Press'' editor and co-publisher Bernard L. Stein won th
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
for what the Pulitzer judges called "his gracefully-written editorials on politics and other issues affecting New York City residents." He was also a finalist for the prize in 1987 and 1988.

Legacy

Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy The David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy is a public middle school and high school in the Riverdale section of The Bronx. It serves roughly 1,500 students. The school opened as Junior High School 141 in 1957 after a years-long crusade by ...

, the public middle school and high school that serves Riverdale and Kingsbridge, is named after ''Riverdale Press'' founder David A. Stein. The New York Press Association names its annual award for overall design excellence the Richard L. Stein Award. https://contest.nynewspapers.com/Docs/2017_ContestRules_newX.pdf ''The'' Press continues to win this award, most recently in 2021.

References

External links