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The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.

History

thumb|left|[[Political cartoon of Alexander Grant MacKay moving from Ontario to Alberta, Calgary Herald, 26 May 1912]]

The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser started publication on 31 August 1883 in a tent at the junction of the Bow and Elbow by Thomas Braden, a school teacher, and his friend, Andrew Armour, a printer, and financed by "a five-hundred- dollar interest-free loan from a Toronto milliner, Miss Frances Ann Chandler." It started as a weekly paper with 150 copies of only four pages created on a handpress that arrived 11 days earlier on the first train to Calgary. A year's subscription cost $3. Frank Swanson was Calgary Herald's publisher until his retirement in July 1982. Swanson oversaw the move of their headquarters from downtown Calgary to a "$70 million plant on a hill overlooking the intersection of Deerfoot and Memorial."

J. Patrick O'Callaghan (1925–1996), "an outspoken advocate of a free and vocal press" and publisher of The Windsor Star, The Ottawa Citizen, Edmonton Journal, was publisher of the Calgary Herald from 1982 to 1989. In 1994 he served as co-chairman of the Canadian Task Force on the Magazine Industry that recommended stronger enforcement of measures designed to protect Canada's magazine industry.

Kevin Peterson, joined the Calgary Herald in 1969, first as a political reporter for the following six years, then a series of editorial positions and finally as publisher from 1989 to 1995. "[U]nder his leadership, the Herald revamped every area of content, re-engineered its circulation function, and completely reorganized the complex process of selling, designing, and placing customers' advertising."

In 1996 the paper was sold to the Hollinger Corporation under Conrad Black. Ken King, then-publisher of The Calgary Sun with an advertising background, became publisher of the Calgary Herald in February 1996.

By 2003, Southam "was fully absorbed into CanWest Global Communications."

Canwest entered bankruptcy protection in late 2009. and announced Tuesday 13 July 2010 that its newspaper subsidiary has successfully emerged from creditor protection with new owners Postmedia.

In July 2000, CanWest Global made Canadian media history with its $3.5 billion purchase of Hollinger's newspaper and internet assets, acquiring "136 daily and weekly newspapers," [which included the Calgary Herald and] half of The National Post, 13 large big-city dailies, 85 trade publications and directories in the Southam Magazine and Information Group."

The Herald also publishes Neighbours, a weekly community newspaper that is distributed with the Herald in some parts of Calgary, and Swerve, a weekly magazine-style pullout. In the spring of 2005, the Herald joined several other CanWest Global affiliates in launching Dose, a free daily newspaper targeted at younger commuters; it was discontinued as a print publication after a year.

Canwest entered bankruptcy protection in late 2009. and announced Tuesday 13 July 2010 that its newspaper subsidiary has successfully emerged from creditor protection with new owners Postmedia. Postmedia, backed by a New York hedge fund, holds some of Canada's largest daily newspapers, including the Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, and Ottawa Citizen. In spite of the digital innovations at the Calgary Herald in which staff did not have the protection of a union, and there were even deeper job cuts. Postmedia met with union-resistance at its other papers. In April 2013 Godfrey announced that was "eliminating the publisher position at its chain of 10 newspapers, which includes the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen" and the Calgary Herald in a cost-cutting measure.

Circulation

The Calgary Herald has seen like most Canadian daily newspapers a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by percent to 106,916 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.

:::::::::Daily average

Criticism

Ethics shift

In his report entitled "Exposing the Boss: A Study in Canadian Journalism Ethics" journalist Bob Bergen argued that there were dramatic changes during this period. Bergen claimed that the Herald aligned itself "with the Calgary business community and entered into partnerships with the Calgary Flames hockey team, the Calgary Stampeders football team, the city of Calgary's Expo 2005 bid, and enhanced the newspaper's existing sponsorship of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede." On 8 November 1999, unionized staff at the Herald, including reporters, went on strike. The strike lasted until July 2000, during which many longtime Herald reporters left the newspaper. While some accepted a severance package, others returned to work on the condition that the union be dissolved. Many seasoned journalists were replaced by inexperienced staff and it took several years for the Herald to rebuild its readership after the strike. Former Herald staff who left during or as a result of the strike can be found working for other publications, most notably the weekly business-oriented publication Business Edge.

On 25 February 2011 the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) asked the federal government to review (under the Investment Canada Act) the 2010 purchase of the newspaper by Postmedia Network.

Awards

A June 2010 series, "Worked to Death" on the "human costs of Alberta's economic boom" by Chris Varcoe and research by Kelly Cryderman and Renata D'Aliesio, won the 2010 Michener Award, one of the highest distinctions in Canadian journalism. In his June 14, 2011 acceptance speech, Varcoe acknowledged the support of the newspaper, particularly editors Lorne Motley and Monica Zurowski, who invested resources for over a year to "important civic journalism". The series was the culmination of collaboration work by a "photographers, researchers, editors, graphic artists and online journalists" that spanned a year. The series resulted in changes in the way in which the Alberta government improved the province's workplace safety enforcement system.

See also

  • History of Canadian newspapers
  • List of newspapers in Canada
  • List of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation

Citations

References

  • Official mobile site (archived 11 July 2012)
  • Canadian Newspaper Association obtain Canadian newspaper circulation numbers from Canadian Newspaper Association