Early years The beginnings of the Providence Journal Company were on January 3, 1820, when publisher "Honest" John Miller started the ''Manufacturers' & Farmers' Journal, Providence & Pawtucket Advertiser'' in Providence, published twice per week. The paper's office was in the old Coffee House, at the corner of
Market Square and Canal street.
Knowles, Anthony & Danielson During the years 1863 to 1884 the
Journal was published by Knowles, Anthony & Danielson. During the Danielson/Anthony years, the paper was solidly allied with textile mill owners and big business, and frequently gave support to nativist anti-Irish Catholic sentiment. It is possible this was an early inspiration for Dow's later development of his "
stock index" at
The Wall Street Journal. In contrast to Danielson and Anthony, Williams had a sympathetic appreciation for the Irish culture. Nonetheless, Rathom remained editor until his death in 1923. The
Journal dropped "Daily" from its name and became
The Providence Journal in 1920. In 1992, the
Bulletin was discontinued, and its name was appended onto that of the morning paper:
The Providence Journal-Bulletin. Starting in 1925, the
Journal became the first in the country to expand coverage statewide. In 1937, the only competing Providence-based daily, the
Star-Tribune, went bankrupt and was sold. The Providence Journal company bought it and kept it running for four months, then shut it down. One source passed on to White evidence that President Richard Nixon had paid taxes amounting to $792.81 in 1970 and $878.03 in 1971, despite earning more than $400,000. White would later recall rolling the story out of his typewriter, folding it up and putting it in his wallet.
1990s In the 1990s, rising production costs and declines in circulation prompted the
Journal to consolidate both the bureaus and the editions. The editors tried to reinvigorate the coverage of city and town news in 1996, but competition from the Internet added fuel to the decline. In 1997, the
Livingston Award, sometimes called the "Pulitzer Prize for the Young",
Financial problems and sale In the face of declining revenue, the paper began charging for obituaries on January 4, 2005. The paper's last Massachusetts edition was published on March 10, 2006. On Oct. 10, 2008, the paper stopped publishing all of its zoned editions in Rhode Island and laid off 33 news staffers, including three managers. Even during the Great Depression, the
Journal had not terminated news staff to cut costs. The next few years included an extensive campaign to make the Internet version of the paper profitable. The
Journal aggressively marketed its news on the web, pushing to get detailed stories onto its website, projo.com, before competing radio, television and other print outlets. But circulation continued to decline and online advertising failed to compensate. In June 2011, the
Journal laid off more than a dozen employees and eliminated its Promotion Department which had internally handled the newspaper's marketing and community affairs events for decades. On Oct. 18, 2011, with circulation down to about 94,000 on weekdays and 129,000 on Sundays (down from 164,000 and over 231,000 in 2005), the
Journal renamed its website providencejournal.com, a move which meant that most of the previous Internet links to its content no longer worked. It also began implementing a system to require online readers to pay for content. Interactive images of its newspaper pages were initially available on personal computers and on the iPad for free. The paywall was put in place on February 28, 2012. The new website was part of a larger rebranding project by
Nail Communications which also included a campaign entitled "We Work For The Truth". The rebranding failed to stem the circulation decline. Throughout most of its history, the paper was privately owned. After the
Journal became publicly traded and had acquired several television stations throughout the country (as well as cable television systems under the banner of Colony Communications; these systems were sold to
Continental Cablevision in 1995), it was sold to the Dallas-based
Belo Corp. in 1996. Belo also owned several television stations. The company later split into two entities and one,
A. H. Belo, took control of the newspapers. On Dec. 4, 2013, A. H. Belo announced that it was seeking a buyer for the
Journal, including its headquarters on 75 Fountain St. and its separate printing facility. The company said it wanted to focus on business interests in Dallas. Workers were not surprised because the announcement came after the company sold one of its other papers, the
Riverside Press-Enterprise in
California. A. H. Belo announced on July 22, 2014, that it was selling the paper's assets to New Media Investment Group Inc., parent company of Fairport, N.Y.-based
GateHouse Media, for $46 million. By then, the
Journal's Monday through Friday circulation had dropped to 74,400, with an average of 99,100 on Sundays. Its website was getting 1.4 million unique users on an average month. The sale was completed on Sept. 3, 2014, as several employees, including widely respected columnist Bob Kerr, were told they would not be transferred to the new company. Bernie Szachara, senior vice president for publishing and group publisher at
Local Media Group, a division of
GateHouse Media, assumed the title of interim publisher, succeeding Howard G. Sutton. On Feb. 27, 2015, Janet Hasson was named president and publisher of the
Journal. The GateHouse Media news release announcing the appointment incorrectly reported that Hasson was the paper's first female publisher. That distinction belongs to Mary Caroline Knowles, who was publisher from 1874 until 1879. In 2019,
Journal parent company GateHouse Media purchased
Gannett, the publisher of
USA Today. This purchase established GateHouse as the largest newspaper company in the United States "by far",
Falling circulation In October 2015, average daily paid circulation was 89,452 on Sundays and 70,600 on weekdays. By June 2017, circulation was down to about 72,000 on Sundays and 56,000 on weekdays. In 2021 those figures dropped to 38,500 on Sundays and 29,957 weekdays; by contrast, both figures in 1990 were over 200,000. In December 2022, as part of a 6 percent targeted reduction in the Gannett news division, executive editor David Ng was laid-off. In March 2023, Gannet reported updated circulation numbers for
The Providence Journal of 27,820 daily subscribers and 33,523 Sunday subscribers for 2022. ==Headquarters==