Florida Today
Encyclopedia
Florida Today is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County
Brevard County, Florida
Brevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521, making it the 10th most populous county in the state. Influenced by the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard...

. The Gannett corporation bought the paper in 1966.

In addition to its regular daily publication, Florida Today publishes four weekly and eight biweekly community newspapers which are tailored for distinct neighborhoods within Brevard County. Daily circulation (75¢/issue) of the main publication is less than 80,000, with Sunday circulation ($1.50/issue) below 100,000. Circulation of the paper tends to be higher in the winter, lower in summer.

History

Gannett's Florida Today, initially simply Today, was built at the Cocoa Tribune, to compete with the regional and dominant Orlando Sentinel and the state-wide Miami Herald. When Gannett (Gannett Florida) acquired the Cocoa newspaper, it also acquired the Titusville Star-Advocate in the county seat to the north, the Melbourne Times to the south, and the tabloid weekly Eau Gallie Courier, the latter published from the Cocoa facility.

In order to guarantee advertisers a minimum circulation, Gannett delivered papers at no cost to all residences in Brevard County for the first two weeks of the newspaper's life. It continued this free circulation promotion to specific parts of the county until its circulation met the minimum set for the advertisers.

Both the Titusville and Melbourne papers maintained their independence and continued to be printed at each publication's own facility.

Teen section

A teen section The Verge was "by, for and about teens." The section was composed by 40 students, as long as they were under 20 (most were in local high schools, but a few attended the local Brevard Community College
Brevard Community College
Brevard Community College, founded in 1960, is a community college on Florida's Space Coast, in Brevard County, Florida. It has four campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as an Aerospace program at Kennedy Space Center and a Virtual Campus...

). The section had regular articles in rotation such as Generation Gaps, where teens and someone from an earlier generation (parent, teacher, coach, etc.) wrote opposing views to a topic. The section began expanding into other parts of the paper and throughout the week. It was originally published on the back of Sunday's People section.

At a 2006 conference, The Verge won two national awards: First and Second Place for Best News Story. In May 2007, it was announced that The Verge would be integrated with the paper, rather than have its own section.

Operations

Florida Today owns the weekly Seminole Chronicle
Seminole Chronicle
The Seminole Chronicle is a weekly community newspaper that serves Oviedo and Winter Springs, Florida , United States. The Chronicle is published every Thursday with a circulation of 10,000 copies....

, a community newspaper in Seminole County as well as the semi-weekly Central Florida Future
Central Florida Future
The Central Florida Future is the independent student-run newspaper of the University of Central Florida, which is located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The Future is published every Monday and Thursday with a circulation of 45,000 copies....

, originally the University of Central Florida
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...

school newspaper. It is distributed free of charge on campus as well as through several nearby businesses.

The paper publishes niche magazines including Spaces, Brevard County Moms, and 32940. The newspaper Web site includes a space coverage, Metromix entertainment web site and coverage of youth sports.

Recognition

The paper was cited in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 as a Gold Medal Newspaper for overall excellence by Gannett Co.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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