Henderson Gleaner

The Henderson Gleaner (or, simply, The Gleaner) is the daily newspaper in Henderson, Kentucky. Its paid circulation is approximately 10,600 copies daily and 11,900 on Sundays.

It publishes Tuesday through Sunday mornings. It hasn't published on Mondays since its founding in the 1880s. ["A newspaper's history (A capsule history of The Gleaner)," (October 6, 2000). "The Gleaner", p. A-1.]

"The Gleaner" was locally owned for more than a century, but now is owned by the Evansville Courier & Press, part of the E.W. Scripps Company media chain.

The publisher is Steve Austin. The editor is David Dixon..

History

Clarence Christian (C.C.) Givens founded The Gleaner in 1883 in Providence, Kentucky, located approximately 35 miles south of Henderson. Givens remained there for six months, then moved his newspaper farther south to Madisonville, Kentucky. In July 1885, Givens relocated the Gleaner to Henderson. It became a daily publication in 1888 with the exception that it produced no Monday edition, and was published as the "Henderson Morning Gleaner".

It wasn't the city's first or only newspaper. "The Columbian" first published in 1823, and the "Henderson Reporter" was in production from 1853 through 1885. At least a dozen other newspapers also operated in Henderson for various lengths of times, but few if any copies of those papers have survived.

"The Gleaner" was also a peer of the "Henderson Journal", founded in 1883 as a weekly afternoon paper. One of its founders was Edmund L. Starling, a colonel with the Union Army during the Civil War, a former mayor of Henderson and a former editor of the "Reporter". Starling in 1887 produced the "History of Henderson County", a thick volume that has served as a foundation for subsequent Henderson history books.

The "Henderson Morning Gleaner" and "Henderson Evening Journal" competed for several years. By 1909, the "Evening Journal" was losing $500 a week and had been taking over by its bank. A young Illinois native, Leigh Harris, bought the "Journal". Harris' first editorial consisted of a single sentence: "I have come to Henderson to run a newspaper." [Armstrong, Francele Harris, "Leigh and Jane -- A Love Story". (The Carlton Press, 1974), p. 12.]

In about 1920, Harris negotiated a merger of the "Gleaner" and "Journal" with the Givens family, creating the "Henderson Gleaner and Journal". (The word "Journal" was dropped from the masthead in 1973.) Harris later bought out C.C. Givens altogether, becoming the city's sole newspaper publisher. Harris chaired numerous Henderson causes and committees, including serving as chairman of the local American Red Cross chapter during the Ohio River flood of 1937. Henderson was one of the few cities along the Ohio River that escaped the floodwaters of 1937, owing to its position on a bluff well above the river. Harris soon noted in his newspaper that Henderson is "on the Ohio but never in it." He used that as a marketing tool as he and other prominent citizens worked to attract new industries to Henderson. [Armstrong, Francele Harris, "Leigh and Jane -- A Love Story". (The Carlton Press, 1974), p. 17.]

After Harris' death in 1955, the family leased the newspaper to J. Albert Dear of Jersey City, New Jersey. His company, Dear Publication and Radio Inc., bought the newspaper outright two years later.

In 1960, the Dear family sent a son, Walter Dear II, to Henderson to serve as promotions manager, beginning a new era for the Gleaner. He became editor in 1963 and later served as publisher. Dear promoted the community, much as Leigh Harris had a generation earlier. Dear was among a handful of Hendersonians who served as primary fundraisers for community improvements such as a new YMCA building, a Fine Arts Center on the Henderson Community College campus, a new Salvation Army center and other projects.

The newspaper constructed a new office and printing plant at 455 Klutey Park Plaza in suburban Henderson, relocating there in 1976.

In 1986, Walt and Martha Dear and their children bought "The Gleaner", several western Kentucky weekly newspapers (the "Benton Tribune-Courier", "McLean County News", "Ohio County News" and "Franklin Favorite", plus the Portland, Tenn., Leader)and a small radio station in Franklin, Kentucky, from the rest of their family. They later acquired the "Union County Advocate" in Morganfield, Kentucky, as well.

In 1997, the Dear family sold "The Gleaner" and other media holdings to the A.H. Belo Corp., a Texas media company that owns "The Dallas Morning News". Belo had purchased "The Messenger-Inquirer" in nearby Owensboro, Kentucky, a year earlier. Belo subsequently decided that the two Kentucky newspapers weren't core to Belo's business of operating newspapers and television stations in larger high-growth markets, particularly in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. ["Gleaner offered for sale," (June 28, 2000). "The Gleaner", p. A-1.]

Belo sold "The Gleaner" in 2000 to the Evansville Courier Co., publisher of "The Evansville Courier & Press" and itself a subsidiary of media company E.W. Scripps Company. As had been the case with Belo, the Courier and E.W. Scripps left "The Gleaner" editorially independent, although Henderson readers later criticized the decision to merge "The Gleaner" and "Courier & Press" classified advertising.

Trivia

* For nearly a quarter-century, the newspaper's name appeared in lower case on its [http://www.naa.org/Information-Resource-Center/Questions-and-Answers/Fun-Facts-About-Newspapers.aspx flag] on the front page. On April 27, 1973, the newspaper name changed from from "The Gleaner-Journal" to "the gleaner". [The Gleaner newspaper, (April 27, 1973), p. 1.] It renamed so until Aug. 10, 1997, when the name appeared in upper case, as "The Gleaner." [The Gleaner newspaper, (August 10, 1973), p. A-1.]

* "Gleaner" is the name of a few other newspapers, including the [http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com Jamaica Gleaner] of Kingston, Jamaica.; the [http://www.newsgleaner.com Northeast News Gleaner] , a weekly newspaper in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Gleaner of Huntingdon, Québec, Canada; and The Daily Gleaner of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada .

* Three former Gleaner photojournalists went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize for their work at other newspapers. Henderson native William Snyder has won or shared in three Pulitzers (in 1986, 1991 and 1993) for his work at The Dallas Morning News, and in 2006 as director of photography of the newspaper, eight members of his staff won a Pulitzer; Keith Williams, also a native of Henderson, shared in a 1976 Pulitzer with The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. And J. Scott Applewhite has [http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/list.html shared two Pulitzers] (in 1993 and 1999) for his work with The Associated Press.

* Both former Gleaner publisher and owner [http://www.uky.edu/CIS/JAT/HallofFame/halloffame/dear1999.htm Walter Dear II] and retired editor Ron Jenkins have been selected for the [http://www.uky.edu/CIS/JAT/HallofFame/index.html Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame] at the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Telecommunications. Dear was inducted in 1999. Jenkins was inducted in April 2007.

References

* "Newspaper takes on new name, building". (May 13, 1979). "The Gleaner", p. 34.
* Armstrong, Francele Harris, "Leigh and Jane -- A Love Story". (The Carlton Press, 1974)
* "E.W. Scripps to buy Gleaner," (October 6, 2000). "The Gleaner", p. A-1
* "A newspaper's history (A capsule history of The Gleaner)," (October 6, 2000). "The Gleaner", p. A-1.
* Letters to the Editor concerning classified ad changes, (March 24, 2001); (March 31, 2001); and (April 4, 2001). "The Gleaner", p. A-4.
* "Change is an unsettling thing" column by Gleaner Editor Ron Jenkins, (March 18, 2001). "The Gleaner", p. A-4.

External links

* [http://www.thegleaner.com "The Gleaner" Home Page]