| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Gannett |
| Founded | March 27, 1887 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 120 Third Avenue NW, Watertown, South Dakota 57201 United States |
| Website | thepublicopinion.com |
The Watertown Public Opinion is published in Watertown, South Dakota, United States, serving eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. The fourth largest newspaper in South Dakota publishes in the afternoon, Tuesday through Friday.
Founded two years before South Dakota statehood, the Public Opinion in its first 110 years had a succession of local owners, including Stitzel X. Way, whose family ran it for 94 years before selling to UCC March 1, 2002. On September 1, 2016 Schurz Communications Inc (SCI), a Mishawaka, IN based family-owned newspaper and cable TV operator, purchased the newspaper from United Communications in a private family-to-family transaction. The P/O joins the Aberdeen (SD) "American News" and "Farm Forum" as part of the new Dakota Media Group, owned and operated by SCI.
In 2016, it was sold by United Communications to Schurz Communications out of South Bend, IN.[1] It was sold again in 2019 to GateHouse Media.[2]