Woodstock Sentinel-Review

In one form or another, The Sentinel-Review has been published since the 1850s and has gone by several names, including The Daily Sentinel-Review, The Weekly Sentinel-Review, The Woodstock Herald, The Woodstock Monarch, The Woodstock Times, The Woodstock Review, and The Woodstock Sentinel. Although having gone through different names over its lengthy history, it was originally two newspapers. The Woodstock Sentinel began on Jan. 1, 1854, while the Woodstock Review first appeared Oct. 1, 1870. The two papers would merge about 16 years later on Saturday, Sept. 11, 1886 with George Robson Pattullo serving as the first editor when it was a weekly and his brother, Andrew Pattullo, after it became a daily. The Sentinel-Review, which was formerly part of the Sun Media chain of newspapers that was a division of Quebecor Media, was purchased by Postmedia Network in October 2014 with the sale being approved Competition Bureau in March 2015. Archived editions of The Sentinel-Review, or one of its predecessors, starting from the 1850s to the present can be found online at the Woodstock Public Library and Oxford Historical Association. == Readership ==

The Sentinel-Review is available throughout Oxford County, but primarily in Woodstock with newspapers also being available and delivered to Tavistock, Thamesford, Ingersoll, Beachville, Embro, Norwich, Innerkip, Burgessville, Tillsonburg, Plattsville and other communities in the Oxford County. In the 2000s The Sentinel-Review began publishing stories, photos and videos online on its website as a new avenue to reach readers in the changing era of journalism. From the time they began the crossover into the digital age, The Sentinel-Review has had a presence in multiple social media forums such as Twitter, Facebook, the Internet, live chats and other methods to further reach local, national and international readers. Since those early online days, they have maintained a constant digital presence with thousands of unique page views. == Newsroom ==

The Sentinel-Review newsroom was based out of 16 Brock St. in Woodstock until late November, 2017 when the office was sold and the paper was left without a home. The Sentinel-Review continued to be without an office until it was moved into the London Free Press newsroom at 210 Dundas St. in London, Ontario as of April 29, 2019. The Brock St. office also had The Ingersoll Times and The Norwich Gazette staffed in their building beginning in February. 2013. Both papers were weeklies and came out every Wednesday. In 2017, between The Sentinel Review, The Norwich Gazette and The Ingersoll Times there are two editors and five reporters, who cover news, sports, politics, health, court, education, agriculture and entertainment in Oxford County. As of 2019, there were two reporters. The Ingersoll Times and The Norwich Gazette were closed by Postmedia in June, 2018. In recent years several former and current staff have been nominated and received multiple Ontario Newspaper Awards for journalism and photography, in addition to other journalism awards. There's also sales and advertisement representatives, warehouse workers and administration staff of about 20 full-time and part-time employees, including the seven people in editorial as of 2017. In 2019, there were about five. The advertising manager is Curtis Armstrong and the managing editor is Bruce Urquhart, who also holds the same position with the Oxford Review and the daily newspaper The Stratford Beacon-Herald that's printed Monday to Saturday that serves the community of Stratford and surrounding areas in Perth County. == Past owners, publishers, editors and notable reporters ==

Alexander Hay - 1854 • Hay helped start the weekly Woodstock Sentinel in 1854, but was bought out by co-partner and father-in-law John McWhinnie shortly after it began publication. He had previously worked for the Oxford Star. John McWhinnie - 1854 to 1870 • McWhinnie started the weekly Woodstock Sentinel with his son-in-law, Alexander Hay, Jan. 1, 1854, but bought Hay out shortly after it began publication and brought in his son Robert McWhinnie. John McWhinnie was born in Scotland and had edited the British American from 1849 to 1853. Morley Safer - 1951 • After dropping out of the University of Western Ontario in 1951 at 19 years old, Safer joined the Sentinel-Review earning $28 a week. Following a short stint at the Sentinel-Review, Safer joined the London Free Press and eventually worked for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, the Toronto Telegram, Reuters and most notably, CBS' 60 Minutes covering major international events like the Suez Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Vietnam War. ==See also==