Bulldog edition

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A bulldog edition is an early edition, or the first edition, of a daily newspaper [1] and can be dated in advance. [2] It is sometimes called the street edition. [3]

Contents

Purpose

The purpose of a bulldog edition has been defined as intended for distribution out of town [4] or for "distant readers." [2] These editions also attracted street sales, as opposed to home delivery. [5]

Publication date

Journalism professor Frank Thayer wrote in 1954 that a Sunday bulldog edition

is often printed as early as the Tuesday preceding the date it bears and is sent to far distant points . . . in many cases as far ahead of its date as Thursday or Friday. If it is not sold until Sunday, it is not properly a bulldog edition, but it is a Sunday predate. [6]

A 1993 article in Books at Iowa said that a bulldog edition is "often composed largely of material from the previous day's last edition." [7]

Etymology

Writer H.L. Mencken tried to track down the name but reported, "Origin of bulldog has been discussed at great length but so far as I know the problem has never been solved." [8]

Theories that have been offered for the derivation of the term have been:

Competition

An early explanation of the origin of the term came from the trade magazine Editor & Publisher, which said in 1932 or before that the usage "probably" began in the 1890s when the New York World, the Herald and the Journal "fought like bulldogs" to "get out editions that would catch the mails going out of town." [9]

A letter from S.L. Dare of the reference department, Editor & Publisher, stated in 1940:

A good many years ago, when the New York newspapers were fighting for circulation, the World and the American (I think) struggled furiously to get the first morning edition on a train for the west. It was said that they fought like bulldogs; hence that particular edition has always been known as the "bulldog." [10]

The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins suggested that

the term dates back to New York City’s newspaper wars of the 1890s, when rival papers were competing for morning readers with special editions sold by street vendors very early in the day. These papers were baptized "bulldogs" presumably because the publishers fought like bulldogs over circulation. [11]

Night workers

It was a borrowing from nautical terminology, the dog watch being an evening shift, when printers had to work to put out an early edition for a morning paper. [12]

Other

Other suggested derivations of the term:

Complaints

In the early- and mid-20th century, some complaints were made that the publication of news in a bulldog edition was dishonest or led to mistakes.

Controversies

Startups

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer began new early editions in 1922. A "Pippin edition" was issued every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in advance of the regular bulldog, to carry on its front page the latest baseball scores. The newspaper said the edition "corresponds somewhat with the Peach edition issued by the Chicago Herald-Examiner ." There was also a Rabbit edition, designed for Montana, the Dakotas, and other territory east of the Washington state line. [25]

In October 1931, the Honolulu Advertiser started an experimental home delivery of a bulldog edition of the next day's paper, to be delivered between 7 and 8:30 p.m. [26]

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an afternoon newspaper, in October 1983 started a bulldog edition that was on sale by 10 a.m. downtown and "slightly later" elsewhere. [27]

The Detroit Free Press, a morning paper, in 1983 unveiled a bulldog edition that was available at convenience stores and in the newspaper's dispensing boxes in the evening. [28]

The Tampa Tribune of Tampa, Florida, in September 1998 began a bulldog edition, which it said would be a "day-early edition of the Sunday paper." It was to be available at convenience stores and supermarkets in certain counties. The newspaper said:

The new product is a twist on a decades-old tool being rejuvenated in recent years by newspapers in such cities as Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, Palm Beach and Miami. It is aimed at selling more papers by attracting readers who want a jump on clipping coupons and reading the retail and classified advertising sections [and to] bump up circulation that has been sagging or flat in some cities because of changing reader habits. [29]

Tribune publisher Reid Ashe said in 1998 that newspapers which had begun the practice had posted circulation gains from 5,000 to 75,000 copies after introducing bulldogs, which extended the shelf life of the Sunday newspapers. [29]

The Tribune bulldog was to be "vastly different from the typical Sunday paper," Ashe said, so that it would not "look like a newspaper." Its front page was to be made up "exclusively of headlines, photos and short promotions of stories featured inside the paper." [29]

The Palm Beach Post introduced a bulldog on August 29, 1998, and saw a "circulation bump." [29]

Other uses

A Broadway theater in New York City used the term in March 1912 to identify a special afternoon performance of "The Truth Wagon," a newspaper-themed play at Daly's Theater, "for the benefit of the morning newspaper men." [30] [31]

In 1980, a race horse named Bulldog Edition was running in Pennsylvania. [32]

In November 1978, the New York Daily News began a radio program called Bulldog Edition that presented news which would be in the next day's newspaper. [33]

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References

  1. ↑ Mark N. Clemente, The Marketing Glossary: Key Terms, Concepts and Applications, clementebooks, 2002, page 54
  2. 1 2 "Do You Read a Bulldog?" Taylor (Texas) Daily Press, January 12, 1931, page 2
  3. ↑ Paul McFedries, Complete Idiot's Guide to a Smart Vocabulary, Chapter 1, Page 105, Penguin, 2001
  4. ↑ Wijnekus, F. J. M.; Wijnekus, E. F. P. H. (2013-10-22). Dictionary of the Printing and Allied Industries: In English (with definitions), French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian. Elsevier. ISBN   978-1-4832-8984-7.
  5. ↑ "'Gallagher' Type Passes as Newsboys, Circulation Managers Confab Agrees," Daily Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, October 14, 1932, page 11
  6. ↑ Newspaper Business Management, Prentice-Hall, 1954, page 78
  7. ↑ Issues 59-62, 1993
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bulldog: What's In a Name?" St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 1976, pages 1 and 14
  9. ↑ Cited in Frederick J. Haskin's Information Bureau at Washington, D.C., "Questions of Readers Answered," The Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Courant, October 26, 1932, page 11
  10. ↑ "Bulldog Competition, Bulldog Editions," Chicago Tribune, January 24, 1940, page 14
  11. ↑ "Bulldog Edition". poynter.org. Archived from the original on 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  12. ↑ Thomas Thompson, "Turnstile," Amarillo (Texas) Globe-Times, December 9, 1969, page 2
  13. ↑ "Barry Popik".
  14. ↑ "The Tribune Shows the Way," New-York Daily Tribune, April 20, 1908, page 6
  15. 1 2 "Evil of the Predated Papers," Weekly Clarion-Ledger, June 22, 1911, page 4
  16. ↑ "Evening Times Again Demonstrates Its Superiority Over 'Bulldog' Editions," The Evening Times, Sayre, Pennsylvania, page 1
  17. ↑ "A Loose Leaf From the Journal," Nevada State Journal, February 28, 1932, page 1
  18. ↑ The News-Leader, March 11, 1933, page 2
  19. ↑ Jim Fusco of the Columbus Citizen, quoted in Lola Hill, "Piqua-isms," Piqua Daily Call, Piqua, Ohio, August 26, 1940, page 4
  20. ↑ "'Teacher's Pet,'" The Daily Independent, June 2, 1942, page 2
  21. ↑ "Congressman From Georgia Puts Civil Rights to Work on a Voluntary Basis," Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa, January 21, 1949, page 4
  22. ↑ "Seen and Heard in New York," Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent, March 27, 1931, page 6
  23. ↑ "Blond Alabaman Is Source of Stories," The Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Montana, March 27, 1931, psge 10
  24. ↑ "Talks Suspended Between 3 Unions, New York Tabloid," United Press International, The Hartford Courant, August 8, 1982, page C-11
  25. ↑ "Seattle P-I Starts New Editions," Editor & Publisher, June 17, 1922, page 28
  26. ↑ "Would You Like the Bulldog?" The Honolulu Advertiser, October 23, 1931, page 3
  27. ↑ "Look for the New Early Post-Dispatch 'Bulldog' Edition," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 1976
  28. ↑ "Introducing the Free Press Bulldog Edition," Detroit Free Press, October 14, 1983, page 100
  29. 1 2 3 4 Eric Miller, "Tribune Starts 'Bulldog,'" September 19, 1998, Business & Finance section, page 1
  30. ↑ Henry Roemer, "Roemer Stays Up to See Newspaper Play," The St. Louis Star, March 17, 1912, page 46
  31. ↑ Emory B. Calvert, "Gotham Plays and Players," Waco (Texas) Morning News, March 11, 1912, page 6
  32. ↑ Ed Golden, "At the Races," Philadelphia Daily News, April 25, 1980, page 75
  33. ↑ Joan Cirillo, Associated Press, "Radio News Show Continues Despite End of Paper Strike," Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press, November 20, 1978, page B-4
  34. ↑ "Play Written by A. Crews Produced at Northwestern U.," The Times, Munster, Indiana, August 22, 1934, page 11
  35. ↑ Yarn
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