The London Free Press

The London Free Press is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario.

The London Free Press
July 4, 2008 front page
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Postmedia Network
PublisherSusan Muszak
Editor-in-chiefJoe Ruscitti
FoundedJanuary 2, 1849 (1849-01-02)
Political alignmentCentre[1]
Headquarters210 Dundas Street
Suite 201
London, Ontario
N6A 5J3
Circulation59,841 weekdays
63,348 Saturdays in 2015[2]
ISSN0839-0738
Websitewww.lfpress.com

History

The London Free Press began as the Canadian Free Press, founded by William Sutherland. It first began printing as a weekly newspaper on January 2, 1849. In 1852, it was purchased for $500 by Josiah Blackburn (and Stephen Blackburn),[3] who renamed it The London Free Press and Daily Western Advertiser. In 1855 Blackburn turned the weekly newspaper into a daily.

From 1863 to 1936 The London Free Press competed for readership with the London Advertiser, which was a daily evening newspaper. The Free Press has usually been a morning paper, but for many years, it also published an evening paper. Both morning and evening editions were published from the 1950s through to 1981, when the evening edition was permanently retired.

The Blackburn family was also involved in other forms of media in London. They established CFPL in 1933, CFPL-FM in 1948 and CFPL-TV in 1953. The radio stations are now owned by Corus Entertainment, and the television station is owned by Bell Media as a CTV 2 station.

The sudden death of publisher Martha Blackburn in the summer of 1992, due to a heart attack after water skiing on Lake Huron, set the stage for the eventual sale of the family owned newspaper. In 1997 the Blackburn family sold the newspaper to Sun Media Corporation, with new, London-born publisher John Paton introducing a Sunday edition. Later the same year, Sun Media was acquired by Quebecor Inc.

In late August 2005, Quebecor announced that, starting in 2007, The London Free Press would no longer be printed locally at its press at 369 York Street; instead it would be printed at a new press facility to be built north of Toronto, resulting in a loss of 180 local jobs. However, in September 2007, the move was suspended to allow the Free Press to present a business case for the printing department and staff's retention. The Free Press has one of the few printing presses in southern Ontario and it prints several papers for Sun Media newspapers in the area, including the Chatham Daily News, the Sarnia Observer, the Simcoe Reformer, the St. Thomas Times-Journal, the Stratford Beacon Herald, the Woodstock Sentinel-Review and the Londoner, along with the Free Press. In 2015, Sun Media was acquired by Postmedia. On May 31, 2016 Sun Media announced that they will outsource the printing of the Free Press to Metroland Media Group's printing facility in Hamilton.

Circulation

The London Free Press has seen like most Canadian daily newspapers a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by 10 percent to 60,426 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.[4]

Daily average[5]
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Notable former staff
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See also

References
  1. "World Newspapers and Magazines: Canada". Worldpress.org. 2007. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2007.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  2. "2015 Daily Newspaper Circulation Spreadsheet (Excel)". News Media Canada. Retrieved 16 December 2017. Numbers are based on the total circulation (print plus digital editions).
  3. Hopkins, J. Castell (1898). An historical sketch of Canadian literature and journalism. Toronto: Lincott. p. 229. ISBN 0665080484.
  4. "Daily Newspaper Circulation Data". News Media Canada. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  5. "Daily Newspaper Circulation Data". News Media Canada. Retrieved 16 December 2017. Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined) which includes paid and unpaid copies.
  6. Reaney, James Stewart (2005). "Blackburn, Victoria Grace". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  7. "Morley Safer Biography". Yahoo!tv. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012.
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