According to the Library of Congress' database of U.S. newspapers, the origins of the
Hartford Courant intertwines with the publication of the weekly
Connecticut Courant. Founded by Thomas Green, the
Connecticut Courant was first published on October 29, 1764. In the years following 1774, the title of the paper would be changed to
The Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer, later simplified to
The Connecticut Courant, and the Weekly Intelligencer (1778 to 1791), then reverted to the original form
The Connecticut Courant from 1791 to 1914, when the publication ceased. In 1837, John L. Boswell, who had become the printer proprietor of
The Connecticut Courant the previous year (until 1849), also started the publication of
The Daily Courant. In 1840, the title would be changed to
The Hartford Daily Courant, to finally become
The Hartford Courant in 1887. Based on the notion that the daily publication was an offshoot of the weekly
Connecticut Courant, the newspaper board adopted in 2018 the motto "Older than the nation" as its slogan. Other newspapers claim to be the oldest in the country.
The New Hampshire Gazette, which started publication in 1756, trademarked the slogan of oldest paper in the nation after being revived as a small biweekly paper in 1989. Prior to 1989, the paper had all but disappeared into other publications for most of the 20th century, which makes the slogan doubtful. The
New York Post also claims to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper. However, even though the
Post started daily publishing 35 years before
The Connecticut Courant did, the
Courant existed as a weekly paper for nearly 40 years before the
New York Post was founded, making the
Courant older. Also
The Providence Journal claims to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the United States: the
Journal began daily publishing 28 years after the
New York Post, but some critics point at strikes at the
Post in 1958 and 1978 as breaks in its continuity. Regardless,
The Connecticut Courant existed as a weekly paper for nearly 70 years before
The Providence Journal was founded. In 1867,
Joseph Roswell Hawley, a leading
Republican politician and former
governor of Connecticut, bought the newspaper, which he combined with the
Press. Under his editorship, the
Courant became the most influential newspaper in Connecticut and one of the leading Republican papers in the country. An important figure in the history of the
Courant is
Emile Gauvreau, who became a reporter in 1916 and the managing editor in 1919. His energetic and often sensationalistic news style upset
Charles Clark, the owner and editor. Clark fired Gauvreau when the journalist refused to stop a series of stories about false
medical diplomas. Gauvreau would become later on a major figure in the
New York City tabloid wars of the
Roaring Twenties as the first
managing editor of the
New York Evening Graphic and later managing editor of the
New York Mirror. Another prominent editor of the
Courant in the 20th century is
Herbert Brucker.
Recent history The
Courant was purchased in 1979 by
Times Mirror, the
Los Angeles Times parent company, for $105.6 million. The first years of out-of-town ownership are described by Andrew Kreig, a former
Courant reporter, in a book titled ''Spiked: How Chain Management Corrupted America's Oldest Newspaper.
One criticism expressed by Kreig is that the new owners were more interested in awards, and less interested in traditional Courant'' devotion to exhaustive coverage of local news. The
Courant won a 1992
Pulitzer Prize for inquiring into problems with the
Hubble Space Telescope (a Connecticut company was involved in the construction), and it won a 1999 Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category for coverage of a 1998
murder-suicide that took five lives at
Connecticut Lottery headquarters. A series of articles about sexual abuse by the head of a worldwide Catholic order, published since February 1997, constituted the first denunciation of
Marciel Maciel known to a wider audience. In 2000, Times Mirror and the
Courant became part of the
Tribune Company, one of the world's largest multimedia companies. By then the
Courant had acquired the
Valley Advocate group of "alternative" weeklies started by two former
Courant staff members in 1973. Tribune also owned two local television stations:
Fox affiliate
WTIC-TV and
The CW affiliate
WCCT-TV. In 2005, The
Courant became the most recent American newspaper to win the
Society for News Design's World's Best Designed Newspaper award. In 2006, the paper's investigation into mental health and suicides among Americans serving in the Iraq war was featured in the PBS documentary series ''
Exposé: America's Investigative Reports'' in an episode entitled "Question 7." In late June 2006, the Tribune Co. announced that
Courant publisher Jack W. Davis Jr. would be replaced by Stephen D. Carver, vice president and general manager of Atlanta, Ga., TV station WATL. In March 2009, Tribune replaced Carver with Richard Graziano, who was given a dual role as
Courant publisher and general manager of Tribune's two Hartford television stations. In May of the same year, Tribune announced that Jeff Levine, a newspaper executive with a background in marketing, would become "director of content" and that the editor or "print platform manager" of the
Courant would report to Levine as would the news director of WTIC-TV. Shortly after that, the ''Courant's'' two highest ranking editors were let go. After 2010,
Courant has offered early retirement and buyout packages to reduce staff as it continues to experience declines in advertising revenue. There have also been layoffs and reduction in pages. Newsroom staff peaked in 1994 at close to 400 staff, down to 175 staff by 2008, and 135 staff in 2009. Tribune Company brought frequent changes in the
Courant top leadership. On November 18, 2013, Tribune appointed Nancy Meyer as publisher, succeeding Rich Graziano who left to become president and general manager of WPIX-TV (PIX11) in New York City. In 2014, the
Courant purchased the
ReminderNews chain of weekly newspapers. The
Reminder name remained on the mastheads of all editions until November 2015, when the papers were redesigned and renamed
Courant Community. On October 10, 2014, Tribune Company announced the appointment of Rick Daniels as publisher of the
Courant, succeeding Nancy Meyer, who was promoted to publisher and CEO of the
Orlando Sentinel. Andrew Julien was named the combined publisher and editor in March 2016, replacing Tom Wiley, who departed after two months. In 2018, the
Hartford Courant joined more than 300 newspapers in releasing editorials in response to President's Trump's anti-media rhetoric, a show of solidarity initiated by
The Boston Globe. The paper stated, "The
Hartford Courant joins newspapers from around the country today to reaffirm that the press is not the enemy of the American people.
" In October 2020, the
Courant announced that it would be discontinuing printing the paper in Hartford and outsourcing future printing to the
Springfield Republican in Massachusetts. In December 2020,
Tribune Publishing announced that it would be closing the
Courant Broad Street newsroom by the end of the year with no current plans to open another. On its website as of 2023, the
Courant lists its mailing address as 100 Pearl Street in Hartford. In January 2024, it was announced
Courant Community newspapers was to cease publication on January 18. == Origins of the title ==