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Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press (commonly referred to as the Freep) is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of USA Today), and is operated by the Detroit Media Partnership under a joint operating agreement with The Detroit News, its historical rival. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press.
The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 194 Years". In 2018, the Detroit Free Press received two Salute to Excellence awards from the National Association of Black Journalists.
The newspaper was launched by John R. Williams and his uncle, Joseph Campau, and was first published as the Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer on May 5, 1831. It was renamed to Detroit Daily Free Press in 1835, becoming the region's first daily newspaper. Williams printed the first issues on a Washington press he purchased from the discontinued Oakland Chronicle of Pontiac. It was hauled from Pontiac in a wagon over rough roads to a building at Bates and Woodbridge streets in Detroit. The hand-operated press required two men and could produce 250 pages per hour. The first issues were 14 by 20 inches (360 mm × 510 mm) in size, with five columns of type. Sheldon McKnight became the first publisher, with his uncle John Pitts Sheldon as the editor.
In the 1850s, the paper was developed into a leading Democratic Party-aligned publication under the ownership of Wilbur F. Storey. Storey left for the Chicago Times in 1861, taking much of the staff with him. In the 1870s ownership passed to William E. Quinby, who continued its Democratic leanings and established a London, England edition. In 1904, a group of investors (including prominent journalist Otto Carmichael of the Detroit Journal) purchased the Free Press and sold it for a substantial sum of money five years later.
In 1940, the Knight Newspapers (later Knight Ridder) purchased the Free Press. During the next 20 years, the Free Press competed in the southeastern Michigan market with The Detroit News and the Detroit Times, until the Times was purchased and closed by The News on November 7, 1960. The Free Press was delivered and sold as a night paper, with home deliveries made after 7:00 pm until around 1966. A morning "Blue Streak Edition" was available at news stands beginning around 1965, meaning the Free Press actually printed two editions per day. During that period The Detroit News was sold and delivered as an afternoon newspaper.
In 1989, the paper entered into a one hundred-year joint operating agreement with its rival, combining business operations while maintaining separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called the Detroit Media Partnership. The two papers also began to publish joint Saturday and Sunday editions, though the editorial content of each remained separate. At the time, the Detroit Free Press was the tenth-highest circulation paper in the United States, and the combined Detroit News and Free Press was the country's fourth-largest Sunday paper.
On July 13, 1995, Newspaper Guild-represented employees of the Free Press and News and the pressmen, printers and Teamsters working for the "Detroit Newspapers" distribution arm went on strike. By October, about 40% of the editorial staffers had crossed the picket line, and many trickled back over the next months while others stayed out for the two and a half years of the strike. The strike was resolved in court three years later, and the unions remain active at the paper, representing a majority of the employees under their jurisdiction.
In 1998, the Free Press vacated its former headquarters in downtown Detroit and moved to offices into The Detroit News' building and began to operate from its new offices in that building on June 26 of that year.
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Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press (commonly referred to as the Freep) is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of USA Today), and is operated by the Detroit Media Partnership under a joint operating agreement with The Detroit News, its historical rival. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press.
The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 194 Years". In 2018, the Detroit Free Press received two Salute to Excellence awards from the National Association of Black Journalists.
The newspaper was launched by John R. Williams and his uncle, Joseph Campau, and was first published as the Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer on May 5, 1831. It was renamed to Detroit Daily Free Press in 1835, becoming the region's first daily newspaper. Williams printed the first issues on a Washington press he purchased from the discontinued Oakland Chronicle of Pontiac. It was hauled from Pontiac in a wagon over rough roads to a building at Bates and Woodbridge streets in Detroit. The hand-operated press required two men and could produce 250 pages per hour. The first issues were 14 by 20 inches (360 mm × 510 mm) in size, with five columns of type. Sheldon McKnight became the first publisher, with his uncle John Pitts Sheldon as the editor.
In the 1850s, the paper was developed into a leading Democratic Party-aligned publication under the ownership of Wilbur F. Storey. Storey left for the Chicago Times in 1861, taking much of the staff with him. In the 1870s ownership passed to William E. Quinby, who continued its Democratic leanings and established a London, England edition. In 1904, a group of investors (including prominent journalist Otto Carmichael of the Detroit Journal) purchased the Free Press and sold it for a substantial sum of money five years later.
In 1940, the Knight Newspapers (later Knight Ridder) purchased the Free Press. During the next 20 years, the Free Press competed in the southeastern Michigan market with The Detroit News and the Detroit Times, until the Times was purchased and closed by The News on November 7, 1960. The Free Press was delivered and sold as a night paper, with home deliveries made after 7:00 pm until around 1966. A morning "Blue Streak Edition" was available at news stands beginning around 1965, meaning the Free Press actually printed two editions per day. During that period The Detroit News was sold and delivered as an afternoon newspaper.
In 1989, the paper entered into a one hundred-year joint operating agreement with its rival, combining business operations while maintaining separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called the Detroit Media Partnership. The two papers also began to publish joint Saturday and Sunday editions, though the editorial content of each remained separate. At the time, the Detroit Free Press was the tenth-highest circulation paper in the United States, and the combined Detroit News and Free Press was the country's fourth-largest Sunday paper.
On July 13, 1995, Newspaper Guild-represented employees of the Free Press and News and the pressmen, printers and Teamsters working for the "Detroit Newspapers" distribution arm went on strike. By October, about 40% of the editorial staffers had crossed the picket line, and many trickled back over the next months while others stayed out for the two and a half years of the strike. The strike was resolved in court three years later, and the unions remain active at the paper, representing a majority of the employees under their jurisdiction.
In 1998, the Free Press vacated its former headquarters in downtown Detroit and moved to offices into The Detroit News' building and began to operate from its new offices in that building on June 26 of that year.