Times-Standard
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Digital First Media[1]
PublisherJohn Richmond[2]
EditorRuth Schneider[3]
Founded1854
Headquarters930 6th Street
Eureka, California 95501  United States
Circulation13,556 (as of 2016)[4]
Websitetimes-standard.com

The Times-Standard is the only major local daily newspaper covering the far North Coast of California. Headquartered in Eureka, the paper provides coverage of international, national, state and local news in addition to entertainment, sports, and classified listings. On the local level, the paper extensively covers all of Humboldt County while providing partial coverage of neighboring Del Norte, Mendocino, and Trinity counties. The newspaper is one of the oldest continuously published papers in all of California, with several papers predating it by three years or less.

The Times-Standard is owned by Digital First Media which is controlled by Alden Global Capital.[1][5]

History

Established by E.D. Coleman[6] in 1854, the Humboldt Times began publishing in what is known today as Old Town Eureka. The first issue of the Humboldt Times was printed on September 2, 1854. Another daily newspaper, the Humboldt Standard, began publishing in 1875. After a lengthy period of spirited competition and then a period of joint ownership with separate operations, the two papers merged in 1967 to form what is now the Times-Standard.[7] According to an older version of the newspaper's "about us" section of its web page, moving day came on December 7, 1968. Staff writer Andrew Genzoli later recalled, "There hadn't been so much excitement in the newsroom since Pearl Harbor".[8]

Throughout its history Humboldt County has been the site of several county-wide or regional newspapers. They include the Humboldt Bay Journal (1865–1867), National Index (1867–1868), Humboldt Bay Democrat (1868), Northern Independent (1869–1872) and finally the West Coast Signal which began in 1871 and lasted until 1880. The advent of the telegraph in the 1870s encouraged the development of even more newspapers, some dailies and some weeklies. They included the Evening Star (1876–1878), Evening Herald (1879), Eureka News/News/Semi-Weekly News (1881) and finally Western Watchman (1884–1898) and Humboldt Mail (1887–1890). But the Times-Standard has been the only major daily newspaper of record for all Humboldt County for much of the county's history. In 1967, it passed out of local, family ownership into a newspaper chain, Brush-Moore Newspapers, which was acquired by Thomson Newspapers the same year.[9] Thomson owned the Times-Standard until 1996 when it was bought by MediaNews Group,[7] who sold it to Digital First Media in June 2016.[1] Digital First Media is owned by Alden Global Capital.[5]

However, from 2003 to 2008, the Times-Standard was the subject of vigorous competition through the establishment of another daily newspaper, The Eureka Reporter. But, Humboldt County and other areas of the North Coast (reached by local papers), though quite large in geographical terms, is a small population area to feature two daily newspapers. As a result, in late 2008 (after a brief period of reduced publication), The Eureka Reporter announced that it would cease operations.[10]

In early 2012, The Times-Standard ceased printing a Monday edition, publishing Monday news exclusively online.[11]

Following a long history of publishing its print editions in Eureka, the newspaper decommissioned its in-house printing press in 2020 and began delivering copies to Humboldt County from Chico, California.[12]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c "Digital First Media swaps ownership interests for northern California papers". Times-Standard. June 1, 2016. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  2. ^ Scott-Goforth, Grant (September 24, 2013). "Times-Standard Announces New Publisher". North Coast Journal. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  3. ^ "Schneider becomes M.E. at Times-Standard". California News Publishers Association. August 25, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  4. ^ "Times-Standard Quarterly Data Report Q4 2016" (PDF). Lost Coast Outpost. Alliance for Audited Media. 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Folkenflik, David (May 21, 2021). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  6. ^ Hamm, Lillie E. (1890). "Humboldt County Newspaper Enterprises". History and Business Directory of Humboldt County. Daily Humboldt Standard. pp. 175–181. Archived from the original on November 22, 2004 – via Humboldt State University Library.
  7. ^ a b Thompson, Mike (November 18, 2004). "Honoring the 150th Anniversary of the Times-Standard". Congressional Record. 150 (133). Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "About Us". Times-Standard. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  9. ^ "Two Dailies In Eureka Purchased By Brush-Moore". Oxnard Press-Courier. April 19, 1966. Retrieved July 22, 2016 – via Google News.
  10. ^ Greenson, Thadeus (November 6, 2008). "Eureka Reporter to close doors Saturday". Times-Standard. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  11. ^ Tam, Donna (January 8, 2012). "Going digital: Times-Standard to stop printing Monday editions this week". Times-Standard. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  12. ^ Burns, Ryan (May 20, 2020). "Times-Standard Dismantles Printing Press, Lays Off Production Staff; Papers Now Being Trucked From Chico for Delivery". Lost Coast Outpost. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  13. ^ Sigmund, Jeff (February 25, 2008). "NAA presents first annual Media Innovation Awards". Newspaper Association of America (Press release). Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016.

External links

MediaNews Group
Categories