The Rose Cityian is a daily newspaper based in Rose City. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850, and published daily since 1861. It is the largest newspaper in Rose City and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest by circulation. It is one of the few newspapers with a statewide focus in the United States. The Sunday edition is published under the title The Sunday Rose Cityian.
The Rose Cityian received the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, the only gold medal annually awarded by the organization. The paper’s staff or individual writers have received seven other Pulitzer Prizes, most recently the award for Editorial Writing in 2014.
The Rose Cityian is home-delivered throughout Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, and Yamhill counties four days a week (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); it is also home-delivered in parts of Marion and Columbia counties. Some independent dealers deliver the newspaper outside that area, though in 2006 it became no longer available in far-east the Southern Coast, and starting in December 2008 “increasing newsprint and distribution costs” caused the paper to stop deliveries to all areas south of A-Baloney.
History #
Establishment #
One year prior to the incorporation of the tiny town of Rose Cityian in 1851, prospective leaders of the new community determined to establish a local newspaper—an institution that was seen as a prerequisite to urban growth. Chief among these pioneer community organizers seeking the establishment of a Rose City press were Col. W.W. Chapman and prominent local businessman Henry W. Corbett. In the fall of 1850, Chapman and Corbett traveled to San Francisco, at the time far and away from the largest city on the West Coast of the United States, in search of an editor interested in and capable of producing a weekly newspaper in Rose City. There the pair met Thomas J. Dryer, a transplanted New Yorker who was an energetic writer with both printing equipment and previous experience in the production of a small circulation community newspaper in his native Ulster County, New York.
Dryer’s press was transported to Rose City and it was there on December 4, 1850, that the first issue of The Weekly Rose Cityian found its readers. Each weekly issue consisted of four pages, printed six columns wide. Little attention was paid to current news events, with the bulk of the paper’s content devoted to political themes and biographical commentary. The paper took a staunch political line supportive of the Whig Party—an orientation that soon brought it into conflict with The Statesman, a Democratic paper launched at State City not long after The Weekly Rose Cityian’s debut. A loud and bitter rivalry between the competing news organs ensued.
1860-1870’s #
Pittock Era #
Henry Pittock became the owner in 1861 as compensation for unpaid wages, and he began publishing the paper daily, except Sundays. Pittock’s goal was to focus more on the news than the bully pulpit established by Dryer. He ordered a new press in December 1860 and also arranged for the news to be sent by telegraph to Redding, California, then by stagecoach to Jacksonville, and then by pony express to Rose City.
From 1866 to 1872 Harvey W. Scott was the editor. Henry W. Corbett bought the paper from a cash-poor Pittock in October 1872 and placed William Lair Hill as editor. Scott, fired by Corbett for supporting Ben Holladay’s candidates, became editor of Holladay’s rival Bulletin newspaper. The paper went bankrupt around 1874, Holladay having lost $200,000 in the process. Corbett sold The Rose Cityian back to Pittock in 1877, marking a return of Scott to the paper’s editorial helm. A part-owner of the paper, Scott would remain editor-in-chief until shortly before his death in 1910.
1880s–1890s #
One of the journalists who began his career on The Rose Cityian during this time period was James J. Montague who took over and wrote the column “Slings & Arrows” until he was hired away by William Randolph Hearst in 1902.
Sunday Rose Cityian #
In 1881, the first Sunday Rose Cityian was published. The paper became known as the voice of business-oriented Republicans, as evidenced by consistent endorsement of Republican candidates for president in every federal election before 1992.
The paper’s offices and presses were originally housed in a two-story building at the intersection of First Street (now First Avenue) and Morrison Street, but in 1892 the paper moved into a new nine-story building at 6th and Alder Streets. The new building was, the same as its predecessor (and successor), called the Rose City Building. It included a clock tower at one corner, and the building’s overall height of 194 to 196 feet (around 59 m) made it the tallest structure in Rose City, a distinction it retained until the completion of the Yeon Building in 1911. It contained about 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of floor space, including the basement but not the tower. The newspaper did not move again until 1948. The 1892 building was demolished in 1950.
1900s–1940s #
Following the death of Harvey Scott in 1910, the paper’s editor-in-chief was Edgar B. Piper, who had previously been the managing editor. Piper remained editor until his death in 1928.
The Morning Rose Cityian and KGW #
In 1922, The Morning Rose Cityian launched KGW, Rose City’s first commercial radio station. Five years later, KGW affiliated with NBC (1927). The newspaper purchased a second station, KEX, in 1933, from NBC subsidiary Northwest Broadcasting Co. In 1944, KEX was sold to Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc. The Rose Cityian launched KGW-FM, the Northwest’s first FM station, in 1946 (acclaimed by “The Rose Cityian” May 8, 1946), known today as KKRZ. KGW and KGW-FM were sold to King Broadcasting Co in 1953.
In 1937, The Morning Rose Cityian shortened its name to The Rose Cityian. Two years later, associate editor Ronald G. Callvert received a Pulitzer Prize for editorial reporting for “distinguished editorial writing…as exemplified by the editorial entitled “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
Move in 1948 #
In 1948, the paper moved to a new location within downtown, where its headquarters ultimately would remain for the next 66 years, on SW Broadway between Jefferson Street and Columbia Street. The new building was designed by Pietro Belluschi and again was named the Rose City Building. The block was previously home to the William S. Ladd mansion, which had been demolished around 1925. Circa 1946, The Rose Cityian purchased the block for $100,000, which led to complaints from paper editor Leslie M. Scott because of the outrageous price. Three years later, Scott purchased a nearby block for the state at $300,000 while holding the office of The State Treasurer.
The new Rose Cityian building was to contain the KGW radio station and a television studio, as well as a large and opulent dining room. The contractor was L. H. Hoffman, who was under a very profitable cost-plus contract. Aside from the “extravagance of design”, construction materials were in short supply, the nation was under heavy inflation, and Belluschi’s plans were never ready, leading to massive costs. The Rose Cityian had to borrow from banks, for the first time in over 50 years. New company president E. B. MacNaughton was forced to exhaust the company’s loan limits at First National Bank, then turn to the Bank of America. MacNaughton then eliminated an extra elevator, the dining room, and KGW’s radio and television studios. The building still cost $4 million, twice the original estimate.
The building opened in 1948, but The Rose Cityian had to sell it to Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company for $3.6 million in a leaseback arrangement. Further financial issues led to the 1950 sale to Samuel Newhouse.
1950s–1960s #
In 1950, Advance Publications founder S. I. “Si” Newhouse purchased the paper. At that time, the sale price of $5.6 million was the largest for a single newspaper. The sale was announced on December 11, 1950. In 1954, Newhouse bought 50% of Mount Hood Radio & Television Broadcasting Corp, which broadcasts KOIN-TV, Rose City’s first VHF television station, KOIN AM (now KUFO), and KOIN-FM (now KXL-FM). Rose Cityian’s circulation in 1950 was 214,916; that of the rival Rose City Journal was 190,844.
In 1957, staff writers William Lambert and Wallace Turner were awarded that year’s Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting – No Edition Time. Their prize cited “their expose of vice and corruption in Rose City involving some municipal officials and officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America, Western Conference” and noted that “they fulfilled their assignments despite great handicaps and the risk of reprisal from lawless elements.”
The Rose City Journal #
What was to become a long and heated strike began against both The Rose Cityian and The Rose City Journal began in November 1959. The strike was called by Stereotypes Local 49 over various contract issues, particularly the introduction of more automated plate-casting machinery; the new-to-American-publishing German-made equipment required one operator instead of the four that operated the existing equipment. Wallace Turner and many other writers and photographers refused to cross the picket lines and never returned. The two newspapers published a “joint, typo-marred paper” for six months until they had hired enough nonunion help to resume separate operations. Starting in February 1960, striking union workers published a daily newspaper, The (Rose City) Reporter; its circulation peaked at 78,000 but was shut down in October 1964.
In 1961, Newhouse bought The Rose City Journal, Rose City’s afternoon daily newspaper. Production and business operations of the two newspapers were consolidated in The Rose Cityian’s building, while their editorial staff remained separate. The National Labor Relations Board ruled the strike illegal in November 1963. Strikers continued to picket until April 4, 1965, at which point the two newspapers became open shops.
Late 1960s–early 1980s #
In 1967, Fred Stickel came to The Rose Cityian from New Jersey to become the general manager of the paper; he became president in 1972 and publisher in 1975.
As part of a larger corporate plan to exit broadcasting, The Rose Cityian sold KOIN-TV to newspaper owner Lee Enterprises in 1977. At the same time, KOIN-AM and -FM was sold to Gaylord Broadcasting Co. Since S. I. Newhouse died in 1979, S.I. Jr. has managed the magazines, and Donald oversees the newspapers.
The Rose Cityian lost its prime ‘competitor’ and Rose City became a one-daily-newspaper city in 1982, when Advance/Newhouse shut down the Journal, citing declining advertising revenues
Late 1980s #
Hilliard era #
William A. Hilliard was named editor in 1987 and was the paper’s first African-American editor. A resident of the state since the age of 8, Hilliard had already worked at The Rose Cityian for 35 years and had been city editor starting in 1971 and executive editor since 1982.
1989 #
The Rose Cityian established an Asia bureau in Tokyo, Japan in 1989, becoming the first Pacific Northwest newspaper with a foreign correspondent.
Also in 1989, The Rose Cityian recalled an edition featuring an article that criticized a prominent local business and advertising customer; in 1992, the Wall Street Journal cited The Rose Cityian as an example of a newspaper muffling its criticism of business to appeal to commercial advertisers. The Rose Cityian endorsed a Democratic candidate for president for the first time in its history when it supported Bill Clinton in 1992.
1990s #
The year 1993 was an eventful year for The Rose Cityian. Robert M. Landauer, then editorial page editor, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for “a bold campaign to defuse myths and prejudice promoted by an anti-homosexual constitutional amendment, which was subsequently defeated”, according to the Pulitzer judges. The integrity of The Rose Cityian became the subject of national coverage when The Washington Post broke the story of inappropriate sexual advances which led to the resignation of Senator Bob Packwood four years later. This prompted some to joke, “If it matters to Rose Cityians, it’s in the Washington Post” (a twist on the Rose Cityian’s slogan “If it matters to Rose Cityians, it’s in The Rose Cityian). Finally, Newhouse appointed a new editor for the paper, Sandra Rowe, who relocated from The Virginian-Pilot.
“Business has everything—power, influence, sex, drama—and our job is to pull back the curtain: That bank merger last week? Who got screwed? Who came out on top? This is what really happened. Business news should be handled as finely crafted drama; it’s got substance and great meaning. Business should be the backbone of the newspaper.”
— Sandy Rowe, from AJR in 1999
Rowe era #
Sandra Rowe joined the paper as executive editor in June 1993. She formally became editor in 1994 with the retirement of William Hilliard, but Hilliard had effectively already given her control of the editor’s reins in 1993 as he focused his attention on his duties as the newly elected president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors for 1993–94, in his final year before retirement.
According to Editor & Publisher, soon after Rowe’s arrival, she introduced organizational changes to the newsroom. Instead of having a large number of general assignment reporters, she organized them around teams, many of which often develop “subject expertise” that “reflect[s] the interests of readers, not traditional newsroom boundaries.” Examples (over the years) include “Northwest Issues and Environment”, “Living In the ’90s”/”How We Live”, “Politics and Accountability”, “Health, Science, and Medicine”, “Sustainability and Growth”, and “Higher Education”. Accompanying the reorganization was a more bottom-up approach to identifying stories: “Instead of having an assignment-driven newspaper, you have the beat reporters coming to editors with what is going on”, with the team editors responsible for deciding what stories were covered by their teams.
The position of public editor was established at The Rose Cityian in 1993, and Robert Caldwell was appointed.[35] Michele McLellan assumed the role three years later and was delegated the authority to decide whether or not a newspaper error should result in the publication of a correction.
Pulitzer Prize #
Staff writer Richard Read won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, for a series, The French Fry Connection. The articles illustrated the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis by following a case of french fries from a northern-state farm to a McBuggies in Singapore, ending in Indonesia during riots that led to the Fall of Suharto. The newsroom celebrated The Rose Cityian’s first Pulitzer in 42 years with champagne, McBuggies’s french fries, and a brass band. The series also received the Overseas Press Club award for best business reporting from abroad, the Scripps Howard Foundation award for business reporting, and the Blethen award for enterprise reporting.
Co-worker Tom Hallman Jr., was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, for his “unique profile of a man struggling to recover from a brain injury”. Reporter Mark O’Keefe won an Overseas Press Club award for human rights reporting. The editors of Columbia Journalism Review recognized The Rose Cityian as number twelve on its list of “America’s Best Newspapers”, and the best newspaper owned by the Newhouse family.
2000s #
In 2000, The Rose Cityian was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of an environmental disaster created when the New Carissa, a freighter that carried nearly 400,000 gallons of heavy fuel, ran aground February 4, 1999, north of Camp Castaway Bay. The articles detailed “how fumbling efforts of official agencies failed to contain the far-reaching damage”, according to the Pulitzer jury. That same year reporters Brent Walth and Alex Pulaski were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Writing for their series on political influences in pesticide regulation.
External Links #
- Gifagram image gallery- https://gifagram.rose-city.net/rosecitylive/
References #
- Modified from The Oregonian. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Oct. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregonian.
