The Press-Enterprise

Last updated

ThePressEnterprise.png
The Press-Enterprise front page.jpg
The July 27, 2005 front page
of The Press-Enterprise
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Digital First Media
Founder(s)James H. Roe
PublisherRon Hasse [1]
EditorFrank Pine
Founded1878
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters1825 Chicago Ave, Suite 100
Riverside, California 92507, United States
Circulation 2011
92,697 Daily
114,405 Sunday [2]

2009 Ranked 65 of 100
149,608 Daily
160,016 Sunday [3] 2008 Ranked 63 of 100
164,189 Daily
172,730 Sunday [4]

Contents

2007 Ranked 60 of 100
172,593 Daily
178,062 Sunday [5]
Sister newspapersLa Prensa (Spanish-language weekly)
ISSN 0746-4258
Website pressenterprise.com

The Press-Enterprise is a paid daily newspaper published by Digital First Media that serves the Inland Empire in Southern California. Headquartered in downtown Riverside, California, it is the primary newspaper for Riverside County, with heavy penetration into neighboring San Bernardino County. The geographic circulation area of the newspaper spans from the border of Orange County to the west, east to the Coachella Valley, north to the San Bernardino Mountains, and south to the San Diego County line. The Press-Enterprise is a member of the Southern California News Group. [6]

History

Riverside Press

The Riverside Press was first published on June 29, 1878, by James H. Roe, a druggist and teacher. [7] The weekly paper began with 500 subscribers. [8] In 1880, Roe sold the newspaper for $1,300 to Luther M. Holt, [9] who renamed it to the Riverside Press and Horticulturist. He expanded it into a tri-weekly in 1885, [10] and a year later began issuing the paper daily. [11]

Holt sold the Press in 1888 to J.W. Tibbot for $20,000, [12] who soon resold it later that year to Roe, Reverdy J. Pierson and E.W. Holmes. [13] Roe retired a year later. [14] Pierson died in May 1894. [15] A year later his estate sold his half-interest to the Clarke Bros., former owners of the Ontario Record. Holmes also sold out at that time. E.P. Clarke became editor-in-chief and A.F. Clarke became city editor. [16]

The paper was operated by the Press Publishing Company. [16] Around 1930, the Sun Publishing Company, publisher of the San Bernardino Sun purchased a half-interest in the business. [17]

Riverside Enterprise

The Riverside Daily Enterprise was first published in December 1885 by David F. Sarber. [18] [11] Sarber retired in August 1886 and was succeeded by J.A. Studabecker. [19] In April 1890, George A. Faylor relocated the Paso Pobles Moon to Riverside and bought and absorbed the Enterprise. [20] [21] The Riverside Moon ceased after a few weeks. [22] [23]

In June 1890, Mark R. Plaisted revived the Enterprise. [24] It became a county paper in 1896 when it absorbed the Perris Valley Record and the Moreno Valley Indicator. [11] Plaisted sold the paper in April 1899 to H.H. Monroe and Clarence W. Barton. [25] [26] At some point Monroe left and the paper was renamed to the Mission. [27]

In March 1910, Barton sold the Riverside Morning Mission to the Milnes Brothers. [27] A month later Edgar Johnson, publisher of the Orange County Tribune, bought the paper and renamed it back to the Riverside Enterprise. [28] [29] He sold the paper in October 1911 to Monroe. [30] [31] Around January 1912, the Enterprise came under the ownership of Frederick O'Brien. [32] In October, O'Brien sold the Enterprise to John Raymond "Ray" Gabbert and purchased his ownership stake in the Oxnard Courier. [33] [34] Gabbert sold a half-interest in the paper to Will H. Marsh in January 1927. [35]

Press-Enterprise

In 1931, Ray Gabbert sold his half-interest in the Riverside Enterprise to the Sun Publishing Company, which co-owned the RiversidePress and published San Bernardino Sun. Howard H. Hays bought in as a stockholder and was named president of the Enterprise. [36] [37] The newly combined company issued The Enterprise in the morning, and The Press in the evenings. In 1954, the Riverside Press changed its company name to the Press-Enterprise Company, and in 1955 the two papers began printing a joint Sunday edition called the Sunday Press-Enterprise. Due to market conditions, the two papers were combined into one morning paper, The Press-Enterprise, in 1983. [11]

In 1981, the Culver family sold their minority stake in The Press-Enterprise to the Dow Jones & Company. At that time the paper had a circulation of 170,000. [38] A.H. Belo Corporation, owner of the Dallas Morning News, purchased that 21.% interest in 1996, [39] and then bought out the Hays family a year later, resulting in A.H. Belo Co. acquiring 98% control of the Press-Enterprise Co. [40] [41]

In 2013, The Press-Enterprise was sold to Freedom Communications, owner of the Orange County Register , for $27 million. [42] [43] Heavy layoffs were announced a few months later. [44] On November 1, 2015, Freedom Communications filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. [45] On March 21, 2016, the Press-Enterprise and O.C. Register were sold at auction to Digital First Media. [46]

In 2025, University of California, Riverside acquired access to the paper's entire archive which was digitized by NewsBank and made it available to the public. [47]

Pulitzer Prize

The Press-Enterprise won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service for its exposé of corruption in the courts in connection with the handling of the property and estates of the Agua Caliente Indian tribe of Palm Springs, California. The series was written by George Ringwald. [48]

Supreme Court cases

The Press-Enterprise Company won two separate United States Supreme Court cases that established the public's right to witness specific aspects of criminal court proceedings.

The first case, won in 1984, was Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of California, Riverside County. In a case involving the rape and murder of a teenage girl, the Press-Enterprise requested that the voir dire, the process of questioning the jury, be open to the public and press. The request was denied, as well as the request for the subsequent transcripts, and upheld by the California Court of Appeal. The California Supreme Court denied the Press-Enterprise's request for a hearing. The United States Supreme Court decided in favor of the Press-Enterprise, establishing that the public has the right to attend jury selection during criminal trials. [49]

The second case, won in 1986, was also called Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of California. The case involved Robert Diaz who was accused of 12 patient murders while acting as a nurse at the Community Hospital of the Valleys in Perris, California. The defendant requested that the public be excluded from the proceedings. The Magistrate granted the unopposed request because of the national attention the case had garnered. At the end of the hearing the Press-Enterprise requested that the transcripts be released, but the request was denied and the records were sealed. The United States Supreme Court decided that the public has the right to attend pretrial hearings in criminal cases, including preliminary hearings. [50]

See also

References

  1. "Executive team named for So Cal News Group to lead the Orange County Register". April 3, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  2. "Industry: Press-Enterprise posts circulation gain" (PDF). The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  3. "2009 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2010. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  4. "2008 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 16, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  5. "2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  6. Hagen, Ryan. "What is Digital First Media and the Southern California News Group who just purchased the Orange County Register?". San Bernardino Sun. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  7. Patterson, Tom. A Colony For California, Second Edition, 1996. p. 55.
  8. "First Edition with 500 Subscribers Makes Interesting Historical Reading". Riverside Daily Press. June 10, 1926.
  9. "Notice". Santa Barbara Independent. January 17, 1880. p. 3.
  10. Holt, Luther M. (June 10, 1926). "Riverside Press Sold For $1300 And No Cash Chnaged Hands In Transfer". Riverside Daily Press. p. 1.
  11. 1 2 3 4 The Press-Enterprise, Press Into The Past, 1878-2007: A Press-Enterprise Timeline, April 20, 2007
  12. "The Riverside "Press" Sold". The Los Angeles Times. August 28, 1888. p. 4.
  13. "The Riverside Press". Daily Times-Index. San Bernardino, California. December 6, 1888.
  14. "News And Business". The Los Angeles Times. December 26, 1889. p. 2.
  15. "Death of a Good Man". The Ontario Observer. May 12, 1894. p. 1.
  16. 1 2 "News And Business". Daily Times-Index. San Bernardino, California. March 13, 1895. p. 4.
  17. "Notice". Redlands Daily Facts. November 13, 1931. p. 12.
  18. "Notice". The San Diego Sun. December 7, 1885. p. 3.
  19. "Notice". The Record. National City, California. August 12, 1886. p. 2.
  20. "Pacific Coast News". Cloverdale Reveille. April 5, 1890. p. 1.
  21. "Notice". The Ontario Record. April 9, 1890. p. 2.
  22. "Notice". The Citrograph. Redlands, California. April 19, 1890. p. 11.
  23. "Pacific Coast News". Sacramento River News. Rio Vista, California. May 2, 1890. p. 2.
  24. "Our Neighbors". Los Angeles Evening Express. June 30, 1890. p. 6.
  25. "Enterprise Sold". The Evening Transcript. San Bernardino, California. April 18, 1899. p. 2.
  26. "Notice". Chino Champion. April 21, 1899. p. 2.
  27. 1 2 "Riverside Enterprise Sold To Milnes Bros". The Register. March 29, 1910. p. 4.
  28. "Buys Daily Paper. | Proprietor of Orange County Weekly Secures the Riverside Morning Mission". The Los Angeles Times. April 10, 1910. p. 11.
  29. "Paper Changes Ownership". The Evening Index. San Bernardino, California. April 14, 1910. p. 10.
  30. "Newspaper Changes". The Register. Santa Ana, California. October 26, 1911. p. 4.
  31. "Notice". The Daily Report. Ontario, California. October 27, 1911. p. 4.
  32. "Notice". The Daily Report. Ontario, California. February 19, 1912. p. 4.
  33. "New Owner For Riverside Paper". The Evening Index. San Bernardino, California. October 1, 1912. p. 5.
  34. "Early County Publisher Ray Gabbert Dies at 81". Ventura County Star. January 29, 1963. p. 12.
  35. "Marsh Buys Local Paper Says Report". Riverside Daily Press. January 7, 1927. p. 7.
  36. "Riverside Press Acquires Control Of Morning Paper". Imperial Valley Press. United Press. November 11, 1931. p. 1.
  37. "'Press' Buys In On 'Enterprise'". The Los Angeles Times. November 11, 1931. p. 8.
  38. "Dow Jones Acquires Interest In Press-Enterprise". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Assoicated Press. August 14, 1981. p. 50.
  39. "Briefly | Media". The Los Angeles Times. June 28, 1996. p. 51.
  40. "Hays family sells stake in Riverside newspaper". The San Bernardino County Sun. June 21, 1997. p. 20.
  41. Roberts, Gene; Kunkel, Thomas; Layton, Charles, eds. (2001). Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering . Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. ISBN   1610752325.
  42. Bensinger, Ken (November 22, 2013). "Sale of Riverside newspaper closes". The Los Angeles Times. p. 11.
  43. Bensinger, Ken (November 21, 2013). "Sale of Riverside Press-Enterprise to Aaron Kushner closes, finally". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  44. Bensinger, Ken (January 17, 2014). "Dozens laid off at Freedom papers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  45. "Freedom seeks bankruptcy". San Francisco Chronicle. November 2, 2015. p. 8.
  46. Khouri, Andrew (March 22, 2016). "Sale of two newspapers is approved | Digital First Media wins battle for O.C. Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise". The Los Angeles Times. p. C1.
  47. Ghori, Imran (March 18, 2025). "UCR Library acquires access to Press-Enterprise archive". Inside UCR. University of California, Riverside. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  48. Roy J. Harris (2008). Pulitzer's Gold: Behind the Prize for Public Service Journalism. University of Missouri Press. p. 403. ISBN   978-0-8262-1768-4.
  49. Justia.com; US Supreme Court Center; Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Ct., 464 U. S. 501 (1984). Retrieved November 16, 2009
  50. Justia.com; US Supreme Court Center; Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Ct., 478 U. S. 1 (1986). Retrieved November 16, 2009.