Tulsa World
ISSN 2330-7234 | | |
Website | tulsaworld |
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The Tulsa World is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the state, after The Oklahoman.
It was founded in 1905 and locally owned by the Lorton family for almost 100 years until February 2013, when it was sold to BH Media Group,[2] a Berkshire Hathaway company controlled by Warren Buffett.[3] The Tulsa World Media Company became part of Lee Enterprises in 2020.[4] The paper was jointly operated with the Tulsa Tribune from 1941 to 1992.[5]
History
Republican activist James F. McCoy and Kansas journalist J.R. Brady published the first edition of the Tulsa World on September 14, 1905
Brady was sufficiently successful establishing the Tulsa World that it attracted a Missouri mine owner, George Bayne, and his brother-in-law, Charles Dent, who bought and ran the paper for the next five years.[7] In 1911, Eugene Lorton, who had just sold his stake in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper, and moved to Tulsa, bought an interest in the Tulsa World, becoming its editor,[8] and then, with financial backing from Harry Ford Sinclair, the sole owner and publisher in 1917.[7]
Beginning in 1915, the Tulsa World fought an editorial battle advocating a proposal to build a reservoir on Spavinaw Creek and pipe the water 55 miles to Tulsa.[6] Charles Page was among those who opposed the Spavinaw plan; he advocated a plan in his own newspaper to sell water from the Shell Creek water system, which Page owned.[9][10] Page's newspaper, the Morning News, closed in 1919 after Tulsans approved a bond issue to pipe the water from Spavinaw.[9] He sold a companion paper, Tulsa Democrat, to Richard Lloyd Jones, who renamed it the Tulsa Tribune.[9]
In the 1920s, the Tulsa World was known for its opposition to the
The Tulsa Tribune and Tulsa World entered a
In February 2013, the paper announced that it would be sold to Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group, controlled by Warren Buffett.[3] In 2015, BH Media bought six weekly papers and the daily Tulsa Business & Legal News from Community Publishers Inc.[13]
On April 20, 2015, four Tulsa World journalists—including two nominated for the Pulitzer Prize—suddenly resigned their jobs to accept positions at The Frontier, a new online-only publication launched by the former World publisher, Bobby Lorton.[14][15]
In 2016, the World announced it would not endorse any candidate in the 2016 election, saying that the American people had been presented with "the least acceptable list of candidates for president in modern times." The paper had maintained its loyalty to the GOP after Eugene Lorton's death; it had endorsed the GOP standardbearer in every election since 1940.[16]
Recent developments
In February 2013, the paper announced that it would be sold to Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group, controlled by Warren Buffett.[3] Lee Enterprises announced an agreement to buy BH Media Group publications and The Buffalo News for $140 million cash on January 29, 2020. The acquisition includes the Tulsa World.[4]
As of September 2012, weekday circulation was 95,003; Saturday circulation was 104,602; and Sunday circulation was 133,066.[citation needed] In April 2011, the World introduced a metered model to its digital products that limits the amount of locally produced articles that a non-subscriber can view at no charge. Once viewers have opened 5 stories in 30 days, they will be asked to purchase a subscription. The home page, all section pages, classifieds and most syndicated content is unrestricted to all readers. "In reality, more people are engaged with our content than ever before. But it no longer seems fair to have a portion of our readers pay for our content while others do not. Therefore, like many publications, we have decided to charge a fee for our digital content. Print subscribers will continue to receive unlimited access to our digital products," wrote then publisher and CEO Robert E. Lorton III in a letter to readers[17] In March 2008, the World closed its zoned suburban newspapers, called the "Community World," and laid off its 18 staff members.[18] Tulsa World laid off 28 employees in early 2009. Twenty-six newsroom employees were terminated immediately.[18] Editors said in a memo that staff members would be challenged to produce a quality product after the layoffs, and editors asked remaining newsroom employees to take on new duties.[citation needed] On March 29, 2009, the World published a column by its then publisher, Robert E. Lorton III, responding to what Lorton called "an unusual amount of concerned correspondence in regard to the future of this company and our industry." Lorton asserted that despite the difficult economy and general downward trends in the newspaper industry and the World's own staff cuts, that Tulsa World remains profitable and has a healthy capital structure.[19] The World further reduced staff on March 1, 2011 by terminating eighteen employees, "the result of a company-wide evaluation by management of operational efficiencies." The World says "the reduction represents approximately 3 percent of its staff."[20]
Also in January 2009, the Tulsa World and Oklahoma City's daily newspaper, The Oklahoman, announced a content-sharing agreement in which each paper would carry some content created by the other. The papers also said they would "focus on reducing some areas of duplication, such as sending reporters from both The Oklahoman and Tulsa World to cover routine news events."[21]
In mid-January 2009, Tulsa World filed a
Notable staff
- Mildred Ladner Thompson, former Tulsa World book editor and columnist[26]
Competing newspapers
- Tulsa Beacon
- Tulsa Tribune (former)
- Urban Tulsa Weekly (former)
See also
References
- ^ Lee Enterprises. "Form 10-K". investors.lee.net. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ BH Media Group
- ^ a b c Greene, Wayne (March 18, 2013). "Tulsa World will be sold to BH Media Group". Tulsa World. Tulsa. Archived from the original on February 28, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
- ^ a b staff and wire. "Post-Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises makes $140M deal to buy Berkshire newspapers". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ a b c "The Media Business; Yet Another Afternoon Daily Plans to Close". The New York Times. 3 August 1992. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Tulsa World - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". okhistory.org. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Flim-Flammery and the Devil: An Early History of the Tulsa World". This Land Press. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "Lorton, Eugene - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". okhistory.org. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Tulsa World". Tulsa World.
- ^ "Tulsa World". Tulsa World.
- ^ "Tulsa World". Tulsa World. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "Printing and Publishing Industry - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". okhistory.org.
- ^ "BH Media Group buys local weeklies, Tulsa Business and Legal News". Tulsa World. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
- ^ "Tulsa World loses four journalists to former World publisher's soon-to-launch news site". jimromenesko.com.
- ^ Investigative Reporting, Oklahoma Press Association, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ^ "For president? None of the above". Tulsa World. August 8, 2016.
- ^ "Open Letter from Publisher Robert E. Lorton III". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
- ^ a b "Tulsa World". Tulsa World. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "Tulsa World". Tulsa World. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "announces workforce reduction". Tulsa World. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ Joe Strupp (23 January 2009). "'Tulsa World', 'Oklahoman' to Share Content". Archived from the original on 6 June 2018.
- ^ Keith Skrzypczak (19 January 2009). "Letter from the Editor". Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
- ^ "Tulsa World". Tulsa World. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "Why Tulsa's daily paper will regret suing the city's alternative weekly for libel". Slate Magazine.
- ^ "Tulsa World". Tulsa World. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ Tim Stanley (7 July 2013). "Mildred Ladner Thompson 1918–2013: Former Tulsa World columnist witnessed history". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
External links
- Official website
- Tulsa World mobile
- Krehbiel, Randy. Tulsa World at the Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (retrieved April 14, 2009).
- Tulsa Daily World hosted by the Gateway to Oklahoma History.
- "Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ken Neal"—First person interview conducted on February 26, 2009 with Ken Neal, former editor of the Tulsa World
- Voices of Oklahoma interview with Alex Adwan"—First person interview conducted on May 4, 2010, with Alex Adwan, former editor of the Tulsa World