The Denver Post


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The Denver Post

The December 22, 2006 front page of
The Denver Post
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner MediaNews Group, Operated by Denver Newspaper Agency
Publisher William Dean Singleton
Editor Gregory L. Moore
Founded 1892
Headquarters 101 W. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80202-5177
 United States
Circulation 255,452 Daily[1]
704,806 Sunday[2]
Website: denverpost.com

The Denver Post is a daily newspaper and online website published in Denver, Colorado. It ranks in the top 50 largest-circulation newspapers in the country, with an average weekday circulation of 255,452.[1] DenverPost.com receives more than two million visitors each month.

The parent company of The Denver Post is MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder, MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews bought The Denver Post from the Times Mirror Co. on Dec. 1, 1987.

Contents

Executives and Personalities

Denver Post publisher William Dean Singleton is vice-chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group, Inc. He founded the company in 1983 with Richard Scudder. MediaNews Group is the nation's fourth largest newspaper company and the largest privately held newspaper concern.

Since 1989, editors of the Post have included Robert W. Ritter, F. Gilman Spencer, Neil Westergaard, Dennis A. Britton and Glenn Guzzo. The current editor, since 2002, is Gregory L. Moore. [3][4]

Current columnists are Susan Greene and William Porter in Metro; Al Lewis in Business; Woody Paige, Mark Kisla and Jim Armstrong in Sports; Joanne Ostrow in Entertainment; and David Harsanyi on the commentary page.


Joint Operating Agreement

In 2000, the parent companies of The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News announced an agreement to combine their business operations. In January, 2001, the plan was approved by the U.S. Justice Department. MediaNews and E.W. Scripps, parent company of the Rocky Mountain News, entered into the joint operating agreement (JOA), creating the Denver Newspaper Agency, which combined the business operations of the newspapers. The newsrooms of The Denver Post and its rival remain independent.

Under the agreement, the newsrooms of the two newspapers agreed to publish separate morning editions Monday through Friday, with The Post retaining a broadsheet format and The News using a tabloid format. On weekends, they publish a joint broadsheet newspaper on Saturday, produced by the News staff, and a broadsheet on Sunday, produced by The Post staff. Both newspapers' editorial pages appear in both weekend papers.

History

In August 1892, The Evening Post was founded by supporters of Grover Cleveland with $50,000. It was a Democratic paper used to publicize political ideals and stem the number of Colorado Democrats leaving the party. Cleveland had been nominated for president because of his reputation for honest government. However, Cleveland and eastern Democrats opposed government purchase of silver, Colorado's most important product, which made Cleveland unpopular in the state. Following the bust of silver prices in 1893, the country and Colorado went into a depression and the Evening Post suspended publication in August 1893.[2]

A new group of owners with similar political ambitions raised $100,000 and resurrected the paper in June 1894. On October 28, 1895, Harry Heye Tammen, owner of a curio and souvenir shop, and Frederick Gilmer Bonfils, a Kansas City real estate and lottery operator, purchased the Evening Post for $12,500. Neither had newspaper experience, but they were adept at the business of promotion and finding out what people wanted to read. Through the use of sensationalism, editorialism, and "flamboyant circus journalism," a new era began for The Post. Circulation grew and eventually passed the other three daily papers combined.[3] On November 3, 1895 the paper's name changed to Denver Evening Post. On January 1, 1901 the word "Evening" was dropped from the name and the paper became The Denver Post.

Among well-known Post reporters were Gene Fowler and "sob sister" Polly Pry. Damon Runyon worked briefly for the Post in 1905–06 before gaining fame as a writer in New York.[5]

After the deaths of Tammen and Bonfils in 1924 and 1933, Helen and May Bonfils, Bonfils' daughters, became the principal owners of The Post. In 1946, The Post hired Palmer Hoyt away from the Portland Oregonian to become editor and publisher of the Post and to give the paper a new direction.[6] With Hoyt in charge, news was reported fairly and accurately. He took editorial comment out of the stories and put it on an editorial page. He called the page The Open Forum and it continues today.

In 1960 there was a takeover attempt by publishing mogul Samuel I. Newhouse. Helen Bonfils brought in her friend and lawyer Donald Seawell to save the paper. The fight led to a series of lawsuits as Post management struggled to maintain local ownership. It lasted 13 years and drained the paper financially. When Helen Bonfils died in 1972, Seawell was named president and chairman of the board. He was also head of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The Center was established and financed primarily by the Frederick G. and Helen G. Bonfils foundations, with aid from city funds. The majority of the assets of the foundations came from Post stock dividends.

By 1980, the paper was losing money. Critics accused Seawell of being preoccupied with building up the DCPA. Seawell sold The Post to the Times Mirror Co. of California for $95 million. Proceeds went to the Bonfils Foundation, securing the financial future of the DCPA. Times Mirror started morning publication and delivery. Circulation improved, but the paper did not perform as well as required. Times Mirror sold The Denver Post to Dean Singleton and MediaNews Group in 1987.

In January, 2001, MediaNews and E.W. Scripps, parent company of the Rocky Mountain News, entered into a joint operating agreement (JOA), creating the Denver Newspaper Agency, which combined the business operations of the former rivals. The newsrooms of the two papers remain independent.

The Post launched a staff expansion program in 2001, but declining advertising revenue led to a reduction of the newsroom staff in 2006 and 2007 through layoffs, early-retirement packages, voluntary-separation buyouts and attrition. [7], [8]

Awards

Pulitzer Prizes

The Denver Post has won five Pulitzer Prizes:

  • 1964: Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons by Paul Conrad.
  • 1967: Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning by Pat Oliphant.
  • 1984: Pulitzer Prize for photography by Anthony Suau.
  • 1986: Pulitzer Prize for public service for a series on missing children.
  • 2000: Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of the Columbine High School massacre.

Recent National and International Awards

  • 2007: Pulitzer Prize finalist in breaking news for The Denver Post's coverage of Colorado's back-to-back blizzards.
  • 2007: Four awards for outstanding business coverage from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW). The project-reporting winner was the Post's 2006 series on Colorado's mortgage foreclosure epidemic, "Foreclosing on the American Dream."
  • 2007: Former Post staff writer Eric Gorski was awarded first place in "Best of the West" contest in the Business and Financial Reporting category for "The Gospel of Prosperity," a look at the finances of the Heritage Christian Center.
  • 2007: Visual journalists at The Post won 10 awards in two international newspaper competitions - nine Awards of Excellence in the 28th annual Society of News Design judging and a bronze medal in the 15th annual Malofiej International Infographic Awards, held in Pamplona, Spain.

Recent Local Awards

  • 2007: The Denver Post won 22 top awards in two Colorado journalism contests, including the award for general excellence from the Colorado Associated Press Editors and Reporters (CAPER). The staff of denverpost.com was awarded top honors for online breaking news.
  • 2007: The Mountain States Office of the Anti-Defamation League presented Denver Post editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe with its annual Freedom of the Press award.

References

  1. ^ a b "2006 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce (2006-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  2. ^ Circulation figures include combined Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post for Saturday and Sunday editions.
  3. ^ New York Times (1989-12-01) Denver Post Picks New Editor
  4. ^ Editor & Publisher (2002-11-21) Greg Moore's Plans For 'The Denver Post' , http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1765561
  5. ^ Denver Press Club historical archive, http://www.denverpressclub.org/denverpressclub/archive/people.html
  6. ^ Bill Hosakawa (1976) Thunder in the Rockies, New York: Morrow.
  7. ^ Michael Roberts, Westword (2006-04-27): "Dealing: The Post offers staffers money to leave", http://www.westword.com/2006-04-27/news/dealing/full
  8. ^ The Associated Press reprinted in Editor & Publisher (2007-06-19): "Industry Bloodbath Continues: 'Denver Post' Loses 21 Posts in Newsroom", http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003600803

[1] http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf as of 3/31/07 [2] History of Denver, by Jerome C. Smiley, 1901, page 672. [3] Voice of Empire A Centennial Sketch of The Denver Post, by William H. Hornby, page 8. [4] www.medianewsgroup.com

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