Lexington Herald-Leader
Encyclopedia
The Lexington Herald-Leader is a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 owned by The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...

 and based in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 city of Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the Herald-Leaders paid circulation is the second largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. The newspaper has won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in print journalism...

 the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in what the writer conceives to be the right direction...

 and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning has been awarded since 1922 for a distinguished cartoon or portfolio of cartoons published during the year, characterized by originality, editorial effectiveness, quality of drawing, and pictorial effect...

. It has also been a finalist in six other Pulitzer awards over the past 22 years, a record that has been unsurpassed by any mid-sized newspaper in the United States during the same time frame.

The publisher is Timothy M. Kelly, and Peter Baniak is the editor.

History

The Herald-Leader was created by a 1983 merger of the Lexington Herald and the Lexington Leader. The story of the Herald begins in 1870 with a paper known as the Lexington Daily Press. In 1895, a descendant of that paper was first published as the Morning Herald, later to be renamed the Lexington Herald in 1905. Meanwhile, in 1888 a group of Fayette County Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 began publication of a competing paper named the
Kentucky Leader, which became known as the Lexington Leader in 1901.

In 1937, the owner of the
Leader, John Stoll, purchased the Herald. The papers continued as independent entities for several more years; the Herald published a liberal morning paper while the Leader printed a more conservative afternoon edition. The two newspapers had a combined Sunday publication. In 1973, both were purchased by Knight Newspapers, which merged with Ridder Publications to form Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...

 the following year. A decade later, in 1983, the
Herald and Leader weekday papers merged to form today's Lexington Herald-Leader. In 1985, publisher Creed Black
Creed Black
Creed Carter Black was an American newspaper executive and publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader, where he published a series of articles on corruption in Kentucky's coal industry and the University of Kentucky's Wildcats men's basketball team...

 allowed reporters to publish a series of articles which exposed widespread corruption within the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

's Wildcats men's basketball team
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...

. From 1979 to 1991, the paper was edited by John Carroll
John Carroll (journalist)
John S. Carroll was the editor of the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun. During his tenure the Times won 13 Pulitzer Prizes.-Early career:...

, who went on to edit
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....

and The Los Angeles Times.

On July 11, 2001 the paper reduced four positions due to declining advertising revenue and higher newsprint costs. Long-time columnists Don Edwards and Dick Burdette took voluntary early retirements but are still published occasionally as contributing writers. Dave Wilkinson, vice president for promotion and creative services, accepted a voluntary buyout. The job eliminations were a cumulation of efforts that started in May when the workforce was reduced by 15 positions.

On July 4, 2004, the newspaper, in an effort to apologize for failing to cover the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, published a front-page package of stories and archive photos documenting Lexingtonians involved in the movement. The stories, written by Linda B. Blackford and Linda Minch, received international attention, including a story on the front page of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

. It was also received an annual professional award by the Kentucky chapter of the Special Libraries Association
Special Libraries Association
Special Libraries Association is an international professional association for library and information professionals working in business, government, law, finance, non-profit, and academic organizations and institutions....

.

On June 27, 2006, the McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...

 purchased Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...

for approximately $4 billion in cash and stock on June 27, 2006. It also assumed Knight Ridder debt of $2 billion. McClatchy sold 12 Knight Ridder papers, but the Herald-Leader was one of 20 retained.

Office and production plant

The
Herald-Leaders new office and production plant facility was completed in September 1980 at a cost of $23 million. It was a 158990 square feet (14,770.7 m²) structure that featured 14 Goss Metro offset presses that had the capacity to produce 600,000 newspapers in a typical week.

The plant is on a 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) lot at the corner of East Main Street and Midland. The $23 million cost was divided into $7,804,000 for architecture, $750,000 for interiors and $8,500,000 for production equipment and presses.

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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