The Standard-Times (New Bedford)
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''The Standard-Times'' (and ''Sunday Standard-Times''), based in
New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...
, is the largest of three
daily newspapers Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
covering the
South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...
of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, along with ''
The Herald News The smaller of the two main newspapers in Massachusetts' South Coast, ''The Herald News'' is a daily newspaper based in Fall River, Massachusetts. Its coverage area includes Fall River and the nearby towns of Dighton, Freetown, Somerset, Swanse ...
'' of
Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
and ''
Taunton Daily Gazette The ''Taunton Daily Gazette'' (and ''Taunton Sunday Gazette'') is a daily newspaper founded in 1848. Based in Taunton, Massachusetts, its coverage area also includes Berkley, Rehoboth, Dighton, Lakeville, Norton, and Raynham. On December 1, ...
'' of
Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount ...
. Like the ''
Cape Cod Times The ''Cape Cod Times'' is a broadsheet daily newspaper serving Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, which encompasses 15 towns on Cape Cod with a year-round population of about 230,000. It is owned by Gannett, which also owns several ...
'', which is the only larger newspaper in
Southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts consists of those portions of Massachusetts located along Buzzards Bay, including the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and their respective suburbs. Despite the location of Cape Cod and the islands to its south, ...
, ''The Standard-Times'' is owned by Gannett. Together with the weekly newspapers of
Hathaway Publishing Hathaway Publishing was a subsidiary of The Local Media Group Inc. Hathaway published five weekly newspapers in the South Coast region of Massachusetts. History Owned by the Hathaway family until 1997, the company later partnered with its form ...
, which also cover Fall River and several other suburban towns, ''The Standard-Times'' is part of the South Coast Media Group.


Coverage

''The Standard-Times''' coverage area includes Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven,
Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
,
Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...
, Lakeville,
Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...
, Mattapoisett,
New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
,
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
, Wareham, and
Westport, Massachusetts Westport (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,339 at the 2020 census. The village of North Westport lies in the town. Other named areas of the town are "Westport Point," which has a do ...
. ''The Standard-Times''' main daily competitor is ''
The Herald News The smaller of the two main newspapers in Massachusetts' South Coast, ''The Herald News'' is a daily newspaper based in Fall River, Massachusetts. Its coverage area includes Fall River and the nearby towns of Dighton, Freetown, Somerset, Swanse ...
'' of Fall River. Other rivals include ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', the ''
Taunton Daily Gazette The ''Taunton Daily Gazette'' (and ''Taunton Sunday Gazette'') is a daily newspaper founded in 1848. Based in Taunton, Massachusetts, its coverage area also includes Berkley, Rehoboth, Dighton, Lakeville, Norton, and Raynham. On December 1, ...
'' and the ''
Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
''.


Circulation

''The Standard-Times''' print circulation has fallen over 30% since 2006. E-sales, while increasing, have not offset this decline in circulation. Daily (Monday through Saturday) circulation for ''The Standard-Times'' averaged 31,629 in mid-2006, down slightly from the 33,047 reported earlier that year. By September 2010, circulation had fallen sharply to 24,723 and 26,521 for daily and Sunday circulation respectively. As at May 2014, circulation had continued to fall, with daily print circulation down to 18,100 (20,482 Sunday circulation) and daily e-sales of 2,176 (836 Sunday circulation).


Controversy

Publisher William T. Kennedy came under fire for New Bedford
boosterism Boosterism is the act of promoting ("boosting") a town, city, or organization, with the goal of improving public perception of it. Boosting can be as simple as talking up the entity at a party or as elaborate as establishing a visitors' bureau. ...
again in the 2000s, as critics alleged that his support for building a multimillion-dollar aquarium—he served on the board of directors for the waterfront "Oceanarium"—was skewing ''The Standard-Times''' coverage of cost overruns and delays.


History

''The Standard-Times'' formed from the 1934 merger of ''The New Bedford Standard'' and ''The New Bedford Times''. ''The Standard'' had been in operation since being founded as an evening newspaper in 1850. The ''Cape Cod Times'' was originally known as ''The Cape Cod Standard-Times'', an edition of the New Bedford paper. It split off in the 1970s. ''O Jornal'', a Portuguese-language weekly newspaper now owned by GateHouse Media, was purchased by ''The Standard-Times'' in 1993 from Kathy Castro and was sold in 1998 in a deal with two Fall River residents, Robert and James Karam, after Ottaway threatened to close it during staff cuts late in 1998. The weekly eventually was sold to
Journal Register Company 21st Century Media was an American media company. It was the successor of Ingersoll Publications and Journal Register Company, and it was succeeded by Digital First Media. The company operated more than 350 multi-platform products in 992 comm ...
, then the owner of ''The Herald News'' of Fall River. The use of the titles "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Ms." and "Miss" before the last names of people cited in the newspaper, still in use in sections other than sports at the start of 2007, is the legacy of longtime ''Standard-Times'' editor James M. Ragsdale, who died in 1994. Ragsdale was also credited with publishing drug and prostitution cases separately from other court news, in running features called Drug Watch and Prostitution Watch. The features included photos of drug and prostitution suspects taken during arraignment and published before their cases were adjudicated. The front-page nameplate of ''The Standard-Times'' displays its home city's name in small print and trumpets a regional identity, "Serving the SouthCoast Community." It was ''The Standard-Times'' under Editor-In-Chief Ken Hartnett, that in the 1990s most loudly championed the name
South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...
to designate the Fall River-New Bedford metropolitan area. The "Standard-Times" has done well in regional news competitions for many years. Most recently it was named the New England Newspaper & Press Association Newspaper of the Year for both 2012 and 2013. It won NENPA's First Place Award for Local Election coverage for 2012, '13 and '14. It won the New England Associated Press News Executives Association's Deadline News Coverage First Place Award for its coverage of Tropical Storm Irene in 2012 and was NEAPNEA's First Place winner for its Overall Website in 2012. Following a series of lay-offs between 2008 and 2009, the ''Standard-Times'' placed a paywall on its website on January 12, 2010. Unregistered visitors are able to view three articles per month, with free registration increasing the number of articles to 10 per month. Following the introduction of the paywall, site visitors fell.


Ownership

Amid a general decline in newspaper circulation, the ownership of the ''Standard-Times'' and its parent media groups has changed multiple times in the 21st century.
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
acquired ''The Standard-Times'' when it bought Dow Jones & Company, Dow Jones Local Media Group Inc.'s parent, for
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
5 billion in late 2007.
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, the head of News Corp., reportedly told investors before the deal that he would be "selling the local newspapers fairly quickly" after the Dow Jones purchase."Ottaway Papers Might Be Sold, Including 16 in N.E."
''NEPA Bulletin'' (Boston, Mass.), December 2007
, page 3.
On September 4, 2013,
News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
announced that it would sell the Dow Jones Local Media Group to Newcastle Investment Corp.—an affiliate of
Fortress Investment Group Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. Fortress was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone. When Fortress launched on the NYSE in February 200 ...
, for $87 million. The newspapers will be operated by Fortress subsidiary GateHouse Media, the owner of ''The Standard-Times rival ''
The Herald News The smaller of the two main newspapers in Massachusetts' South Coast, ''The Herald News'' is a daily newspaper based in Fall River, Massachusetts. Its coverage area includes Fall River and the nearby towns of Dighton, Freetown, Somerset, Swanse ...
''. GateHouse Media has also expressed interest in purchasing fellow ''Standard-Times'' rival ''The Providence Journal''. News Corp. CEO and former ''Wall Street Journal'' editor
Robert James Thomson Robert Thomson (born 11 March 1961) is an Australian journalist. Since January 2013 he has been chief executive of News Corp. Life Thomson was born in Torrumbarry, Victoria, and studied at Christian Brothers College in St Kilda East, and at ...
indicated that the newspapers were "not strategically consistent with the emerging portfolio" of the company. GateHouse in turn filed prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27, 2013, to restructure its debt obligations in order to accommodate the acquisition.


Sister weeklies

;'' The Advocate'' : Founded as a weekly newspaper for
Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wi ...
, in 1979, ''The Advocate'' was acquired by Hathaway in the 1990s and is now based at ''The Standard-Times''' offices at 25 Elm Street, New Bedford. In addition to Fairhaven, the newspaper also covers news and sports in
Acushnet, Massachusetts Acushnet () is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,559 at the 2020 census. History Acushnet was first settled in 1659. It has been included as a part of three separate towns throughout its history. It ...
. : ''The Advocate'' prints every Thursday. Its circulation in 2006 was given as 2,224.SouthCoast Media Marketing Guide
, accessed January 10, 2007.
;''The Chronicle'' :Originally called ''The Dartmouth News'' in 1936, the weekly for Dartmouth and
Westport, Massachusetts Westport (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,339 at the 2020 census. The village of North Westport lies in the town. Other named areas of the town are "Westport Point," which has a do ...
, called itself "Informative and Entertaining, Invaluable to Home Folks." It was sold in 1969 to Warren Hathaway, who changed the paper's name to ''The Chronicle''. The paper is now based at 45 Slocumb Road, Dartmouth. :''The Chronicle'' prints every Wednesday. Its circulation in 2006 was given as 5,000. ;''The Fall River Spirit'' :The youngest of the Hathaway newspapers, ''The Spirit'' is also the company's only free weekly newspaper, boasting a Thursdays-only circulation of 10,500 within the city limits of
Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
. :''The Spirit'''s first edition was October 30, 2003. The newspaper focuses on features and community news in a mid-size city -- "It's about real life, a city's life, made up of a million little moments of human interaction and companionship," as the newspaper's Website says -- competing with ''
The Herald News The smaller of the two main newspapers in Massachusetts' South Coast, ''The Herald News'' is a daily newspaper based in Fall River, Massachusetts. Its coverage area includes Fall River and the nearby towns of Dighton, Freetown, Somerset, Swanse ...
'' of Fall River on its home turf. Although the newspaper covers Fall River, its offices are at 780 County Street in Somerset. ;'' Middleboro Gazette'' :Claiming to be "one of the oldest newspapers in
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
," the ''Middleboro Gazette'' was established in 1852 to cover
Middleborough, Massachusetts Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 census. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to M ...
(which then included Lakeville, the other half of the ''Gazette'' coverage area). Hathaway bought the ''Gazette'' in 1973. :The ''Gazette'' in 2006 averaged 5,700 copies sold each Thursday. ;''The Spectator'' :First published June 30, 1932, ''The Spectator'' originally cost 10 cents. The flagship of the Hathaway chain, it has been headquartered at 780 County Street, Somerset, since 1939. Founding editor and publisher Sidney Hathaway relinquished control of the paper to his son, Warren, in the 1970s.SouthCoastToday.Com: The Spectator
, accessed January 10, 2007
:''The Spectator'' primarily covers
Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...
and Swansea, Massachusetts, but also circulates in Dighton and Rehoboth. Its circulation in 2006 was given at 6,000.


See also

*
List of newspapers in Massachusetts This is a list of newspapers in Massachusetts, including print and online. Daily newspapers :''This is a list of daily newspapers currently published in Massachusetts. For weekly newspapers, see List of newspapers in Massachusetts.'' No ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Standard-Times, The Publications established in 1934 New Bedford, Massachusetts Newspapers published in Massachusetts Gannett publications