The Patriot Ledger

Infobox Newspaper
name =


caption = The April 6, 2007 front page of
"The Patriot Ledger"
type = Daily newspaper
format = Broadsheet
owners = GateHouse Media
foundation = "Quincy Patriot" - 1837,
"Quincy Daily Ledger" - 1899, Consolidated January 1, 1916
circulation = 66,256cite web|url=http://www.accessabc.com/reader/top150.htm|title=Top 200 Newspapers by Largest Reported Circulation|work=Audit Bureau of Circulations|accessdate=2006-10-24]
publisher = Kirk A. Davis
editor = Chazy Dowaliby
headquarters = 400 Crown Colony Drive
Quincy, Massachusetts 02269-9159
USA
price =
oclc =
ISSN =
website = [http://www.patriotledger.com/ The Patriot Ledger]

"The Patriot Ledger" is a daily afternoon newspaper printed in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA that serves the South Shore. Its circulation is 55,000 on weekdays and 63,000 for its Weekend edition which is published on Saturday mornings.

Known for its thorough news coverage of the 26 communities south of Boston, "The Patriot Ledger" has won numerous international, national and regional newspaper and public service awards over the years. It was named the [http://www.nepa.org New England Press Association's] Newspaper of the Year for 2005 and 2006.

The paper was founded on Jan. 7, 1837, as the weekly "Quincy Patriot" by John Adams Green and Edmund Butler Osborne.

It was the hometown paper of President John Quincy Adams, a frequent writer of letters to the editor after he left the White House and became a congressman.

The longest-running family ownership began in 1852 when George Washington Prescott went to work for the paper as a carrier. He later bought the newspaper.

Prescott was a descendant of Col. William Prescott, who won fame at the Revolutionary War battle of Bunker Hill with his order: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

In 1899, Prescott started "The Quincy Daily Ledger", continuing "The Patriot" as a weekly. In 1916, the weekly and daily were merged into "The Quincy Patriot Ledger". The paper later expanded to serve communities throughout the South Shore.

In the 1950s, the paper became a pioneer in newspaper production. Early experimentation led to development of the first practical photo-typesetting machine. Newspaper executives from throughout the world visited the paper to learn about the new process.

"The Patriot Ledger" was also among the first papers in the nation to establish zoned editions for local news and advertising, exchanging journalists with foreign countries, transmitting news copy and page layouts by facsimile, using a front-end computer editing system, installing a two-way radio system for spot news coverage, pioneering the use of 35-millimeter photography and setting up a "little merchants" carrier system.

In 1979, G.W. Prescott Publishing Co. bought the Memorial Press Group and the award-winning "Old Colony Memorial" of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

"The Patriot Ledger" moved from its longtime editorial and business office location in downtown Quincy to the Crown Colony Office Park in South Quincy in 1988. Its printing and circulation operations had moved from downtown to the South Quincy site in 1961.

The newspaper was sold in 1997 to Newspaper Media LLC, which also owned "The [http://enterprise.southofboston.com/ Enterprise] " newspaper in Brockton. It was bought by its current owner, [http://www.gatehousemedia.com/ GateHouse Media] , in 2006. The company, headquartered in Fairport, New York, is among the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States.

The company owns 87 dailies in 20 states and 198 paid weeklies, in addition to free papers, shoppers and specialty and niche publications.

Kirk Davis is chief executive officer of GateHouse New England, which owns seven daily papers and more than 100 weeklies.

Chazy Dowaliby is the editor of "The Ledger" and "The Enterprise".

References

External links

* [http://www.patriotledger.com/ The Patriot Ledger web page]