The Day Book
The Day Book was an experimental, advertising-free daily newspaper published in Chicago from 1911 to 1917. It was owned by E. W. Scripps as part of the Scripps-McRae League of Newspapers (later Scripps-Howard Newspapers). Its editor was Negley D. Cochran, previously of The Toledo News-Bee. It was printed in tabloid size to save costs.[1]
History
With the Day Book, Scripps sought to eliminate the often adversarial relationship between his editorial staffs and the advertisers that sustained them. To his disappointment, pressure from the business community had at times forced the
The Day Book began publishing on September 28, 1911. Like his other penny presses, the Day Book championed labor rights while delivering a mix of politics and lowbrow, sensational content.[4] Circulation peaked at 22,839[5] in October 1916, during the Chicago Newspaper strike of 1912 of Chicago printers and delivery boys that crippled the city's major newspapers.[1]
The Day Book published its last edition on July 6, 1917. It had turned a profit only one month since its founding, in January 1917.[1] It fell short of the estimated 30,000 subscribers needed to become self-sustaining[5] and far short of the 15% profit Scripps expected of his papers.[6]
The Day Book was digitized by the Illinois Newspaper Project. Archived issues can be found at the Chronicling America website.
Notable contributors
See also
References
- ^ a b c "About the day book". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ Stoltzfus 2007, p. 1.
- ^ Russell, Charles Edward (May 1914). "How Business Controls News". Pearson's Magazine. 31 (6): 552–554 – via Google Books.
- ^ Stoltzfus 2007, p. 2.
- ^ a b Stoltzfus 2007, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Stoltzfus 2007, p. 45.
Further reading
- Knight, Oliver (March 1964). "Scripps and His Adless Newspaper, The Day Book". S2CID 144022272.
- Scripps, Edward Willis (1926). Gardner, Gilson (ed.). History of the Scripps Concern.
- Stoltzfus, Duane C. S. (2007). Freedom from Advertising: E. W. Scripps's Chicago Experiment. Champaign, Illinois: ISBN 978-0-252-03115-1.
External links
- Chronicling America: The Day Book.
- Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections: The Day Book (1911–1917)
- E. W. Scripps Papers, Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries, Athens, Ohio. Manuscript collection, primarily correspondence. Correspondence regarding the Day Book.