Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph
Encyclopedia
The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, founded by William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the Quebec Gazette on 21 June 1764, claims to be the oldest newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English language weekly from its offices at 1040 Belvedere, suite 218, Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

, Quebec, Canada.

Formerly a bilingual
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...

 French-English publication, the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph celebrated its 245th anniversary in 2009.

Origins and history

Founded as the Quebec Gazette in 1764, it is a descendant of several newspapers published during the past three centuries. Until 1842, the newspaper published editions in both French and English. At its inception it originally began as a weekly, but in May 1832, it began appearing in English on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and in French on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Quebec Gazette merged with the Morning Chronicle in 1873 to become the Quebec Chronicle and Quebec Gazette.

On 25 July 1925 another merger occurred with the Quebec Daily Telegraph and the paper was then published under the banner of the Chronicle-Telegraph until 1934, when it added 'Quebec' to the front of its name, where it remains to this day.

In 1959, the paper was sold to the Thomson Publishing Group (then owned by Canadian media mogul Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...

, now part of Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...

) which later sold the newspaper to publisher Herb Murphy. In 1972 it went from being a daily to its current weekly edition format.

The paper was sold again in 1979 to lawyers David Cannon, Jean Lemelin, Ross Rourke and broadcaster Bob Dawson, who later passed it on to David Cannon. it was then bought by Karen Macdonald and François Vézina on 1 January 1993. It was sold 1 August 2007 and as of that time its new owner and publisher is Pierre Little, a New Brunswick native.

Claims of seniority

The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph claims to be North-America's oldest newspaper due to the following:
  • The Maryland Gazette began publication in 1727, though it died in its tenth year and the name was only revived in 1922;
  • The New Hampshire Gazette began publication on 7 October 1756 and continues as a weekly today. However, the name disappeared for a time and the new version was started from scratch by a different owner who had not purchased the paper from a previous owner;
  • In Canada, the Halifax Gazette
    Halifax Gazette
    The Halifax Gazette was Canada's first newspaper, established on March 23, 1752 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was published weekly by John Bushell...

    , founded in 1752, claims to be "Canada's first newspaper." However, its official descendant, the Royal Gazette, is a government publication for legal notices and proclamations rather than a proper newspaper;
  • The Newport Mercury began as a weekly in 1758 and still publishes news today under the same name, ceasing publication only for a short period during the American Revolution
    American Revolution
    The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

    . Though it cannot claim to be the oldest continually-published paper in North America, others have asserted that neither can the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, which also ceased publication during the Siege of Quebec in November 1775;
  • Finally, there is the Hartford Courant, founded 29 October 1764, a few months after the Quebec Chronicle Telegraph. The argument from the Courant is that it has never missed a day of publication since its foundation.


The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph therefore has a defendable claim to being the oldest surviving newspaper that still publishes news in Canada, and the oldest in North America with 'continuous corporate bona fide buyouts' from proprietors to newer successors. No other newspaper has made this claim in North America and possibly the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

.

Archive scanning partnership with Google News

In 2008 the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph joined the Google News
Google News
Google News is a free news aggregator provided by Google Inc, selecting recent items from thousands of publications by an automatic aggregation algorithm....

 microfilm scanning project to make its newspaper archives more accessible via Google's free news archive search service.

Publisher Pierre Little stated that:
"This effort will open up a new world of possibilities for today's Internet users. You can search for everything from news of loved ones of past generations to news of major historical events"


and that:
"....many readers visit the newspaper’s Web site to look for obituaries and conduct research on their ancestors
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

. We could envision that thousands of families would be attracted to our archives to search for people who came over to the New World. ...We hope that will be a financial windfall for us."

See also

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