Company type | Limited Liability Company, Private |
---|---|
Industry | Newspapers, Magazines |
Founded | 2013 |
Headquarters | Huntington, West Virginia |
Key people | Doug Reynolds, Managing Director Doug Skaff, president |
Subsidiaries | The Herald-Dispatch, Charleston Gazette-Mail |
Website | hdmediallc |
HD Media Co., LLC is a Huntington, West Virginia, based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers and magazines. It was established by Doug Reynolds in 2013 to purchase the Herald-Dispatch from Champion Industries.
In 2013, HD Media purchased The Herald-Dispatch from Champion Industries. [1]
The Herald-Dispatch was founded in 1909 when two Huntington newspapers, the Herald and the Dispatch, merged.[3] In 1927, the newspaper became a part of the Huntington Publishing Company, operated by Joseph Harvey Long, the owner of the Huntington Advertiser. The company was operated by the Long family until 1971, when it was sold to the Honolulu Star Bulletin and then to the Gannett Company ten months later.[3] Its companion afternoon paper, the Huntington Advertiser, ceased as a separate publication in 1979. Prior to the Huntington Advertiser’s demise, the combined Sunday newspaper was referred to as the Herald-Advertiser, correctly depicted in the movie We Are Marshall. Today, it also publishes the Putnam Herald and the Lawrence Herald, more localized editions of The Herald-Dispatch serving Putnam County, West Virginia and Lawrence County, Ohio, respectively.
On March 8, 2018, HD Media, the Herald-Dispatch's holding company, was declared the successful bid in the auction for the Charleston Gazette-Mail after the paper had declared bankruptcy. [2]
The Charleston Gazette-Mail is the only daily morning newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia. It is the product of a July 2015 merger between the Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail .
The Gazette traces its roots to 1873. At the time, it was a weekly newspaper known as the Kanawha Chronicle. It was later renamed The Kanawha Gazette and the Daily Gazette—before its name was officially changed to The Charleston Gazette in 1907. In 1912 it came under the control of the Chilton family, who have owned it until its bankruptcy in 2018. William E. Chilton, a U.S. senator, was publisher of The Gazette, as were his son, William E. Chilton II, and grandson, W.E. "Ned" Chilton III, Yale graduate and classmate/protégé of conservative columnist William F. Buckley, Jr. Ironically, the paper's opinion page, usually on the left, carried Buckley's column until Buckley's death.
Ned Chilton used to claim that the job of a newspaper was to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." The newspaper's liberal reputation was enhanced by principal editorial writer and columnist L.T. Anderson, associate editor and two-time runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. Anderson later moved to the rival Daily Mail as a columnist after he was passed over for an editorial position at the Gazette, and often used his Daily Mail column to snipe at his former employer.
The Daily Mail was founded in 1914 by former Alaska Governor Walter Eli Clark and remained the property of his heirs until 1987. Governor Clark described the newspaper as an "independent Republican" publication. In 1987, the Clark heirs sold the paper to the Toronto-based Thomson Newspapers. The new owners moderated the political views of the paper to some degree. In 1998, Thomson sold the Daily Mail to the Denver-based MediaNews Group. The newspaper published in the afternoons, Monday-Saturday, with a Sunday morning edition, until 1961; Monday – Saturday afternoons from 1961 to 2005, Monday – Friday afternoons from 2005 to 2009, and Monday – Friday mornings from 2009 to 2015.
In 2014, The Herald-Dispatch parent company HD Media acquired the Wayne County News in Wayne, West Virginia. [3] In 2017, HD Media acquired the Logan Banner , Williamson Daily News , the Coal Valley News in Madison and The Pineville Independent Herald in Pineville from Civitas Media. [4]
In February 2021, HD Media filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google and Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on the basis of digital advertising manipulation. According to News Media Alliance, this is the first lawsuit of its kind being filed by a news outlet. Managing director Doug Reynolds has stated in an interview that "“These companies are more powerful than Standard Oil in its heyday, so no one wants to be the first to take them on. We felt the political and legal climate have moved in our favor and are ready to go ahead.” Paul Farrell, the lead lawyer for the suit has pointed out the digital advertising revenue of the company has declined despite a growing digital audience. Mr. Reynolds has reportedly spoken with other publishers and expects some will join the suit in the future. [5] [6] [7]
The Boston Herald is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulitzer Prizes in its history, including four for editorial writing and three for photography before it was converted to tabloid format in 1981. The Herald was named one of the "10 Newspapers That 'Do It Right'" in 2012 by Editor & Publisher.
Walter Eli Clark was an American journalist and newspaper publisher. In addition to his journalistic activities, he was the last Governor of the District of Alaska from 1909 to 1912, and the first Governor of Alaska Territory from 1912 to 1913.
The Charleston Daily Mail was a newspaper based in Charleston, West Virginia. On July 20, 2015, it merged with the Charleston Gazette to form the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
The Herald-Dispatch is a non-daily newspaper that serves Huntington, West Virginia, and neighboring communities in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. It is currently owned by HD Media Co. LLC. It currently publishes Tuesdays-Saturdays, with the Saturday edition dated "Weekend", with updates on its website on Sundays and Mondays.
The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Richard Nixon, authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same media market area. It exempted newspapers from certain provisions of antitrust laws. Its drafters argued that this would allow the survival of multiple daily newspapers in a given urban market where circulation was declining. This exemption stemmed from the observation that the alternative is usually for at least one of the newspapers, generally the one published in the evening, to cease operations altogether.
Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky, is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers and a TV station, WPSD-TV in Paducah. David M. Paxton is president and CEO.
Tudor's Biscuit World is a restaurant chain and franchise based in Huntington, West Virginia, most commonly found in West Virginia. Many West Virginia locations share a building with Gino's Pizza and Spaghetti, although the chain is more extensive than Gino's, having locations in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. In 2016 a franchise was opened in Panama City, Florida.
The Daily Press Inc. is a daily morning newspaper published in Newport News, Virginia, which covers the lower and middle Peninsula of Tidewater Virginia. It was established in 1896 and bought by Tribune Company in 1986. Current owner Tribune Publishing spun off from the company in 2014. In 2016, The Daily Press has a daily average readership of approximately 101,100. It had a Sunday average readership of approximately 169,200. Using a frequently used industry-standard readership of 2.2 readers per copy, the October 2022 readership is estimated to be 38,000. It is the sister newspaper to Norfolk's The Virginian-Pilot, which was its southern market rival until Tribune's purchase of that paper in 2018; the papers have both been based out of the Daily Press building since May 2020.
The Register-Herald is a six-day morning daily newspaper, Monday thru Friday with a Weekend Edition delivered on Saturday mornings, and is based in Beckley, West Virginia, and also covering surrounding communities in Fayette, Greenbrier, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming counties, West Virginia. It has a circulation of 19,237 and is owned by Community Newspaper Newspaper Holdings.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail is a non-daily morning newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia. It is the product of a July 2015 merger between The Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail. It is one of nine papers owned by HD Media. It publishes Tuesday-Saturday, with the Saturday paper being dated "Weekend", with updates on its website on Sundays and Mondays.
Ogden Newspapers Inc. is a Wheeling, West Virginia based publisher of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and shoppers guides.
The Logan Banner, originally named the Logan County Banner, is a newspaper in Logan, West Virginia owned by HD Media, LLC, parent company of The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington. Circulation is limited to Logan County and surrounding areas.
The Point Pleasant Register is a newspaper in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Circulation is limited to Mason County and nearby areas. The newspaper was founded by George W. Tippett as the Weekly Register in 1862, many years before becoming a daily publication under the title of the Daily Register, and finally the Point Pleasant Register.
Northcliffe Media was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2012 the company was sold by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) to a newly formed company, Local World, which also bought Iliffe News and Media from the Yattendon Group. In October 2015, Trinity Mirror, later Reach plc, bought Local World.
Douglas Vernon Reynolds is an American politician, attorney, and businessman who was formerly a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 17 from January 12, 2013, to January 2017. Reynolds served consecutively from January 2007 until January 2013 in the District 16 seat. In 2016, Reynolds decided against running for his seat again, instead opting to run for Attorney General of West Virginia. Reynolds is also the president of Energy Services of America, a pipeline construction company, and HD Media, the publisher of the Herald-Dispatch and five other newspapers throughout West Virginia.
The Jackson Herald is a paper in Ripley, West Virginia. It is owned by Gatehouse Media, with a print circulation of about 4,900.