Chattanooga Free Press

Chattanooga Times Free Press

The October 27, 2010 front page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	WEHCO Media, Inc.
President	Bruce Hartmann
Editor	Alison Gerber
Founded	Times: 1869 Free Press: 1933 Times Free Press: 1999
Language	English
Headquarters	400 East 11th Street Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403  United States
Website	timesfreepress.com

The Chattanooga Times Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is distributed in the metropolitan Chattanooga region of southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It is one of Tennessee's major newspapers and is owned by WEHCO Media, Inc., a diversified communications company with ownership in 14 daily newspapers, 11 weekly newspapers and 13 cable television companies in six states. The current president of the Chattanooga Times Free Press is Bruce Hartmann.

The Chattanooga Times was first published on December 15, 1869 by the firm Kirby & Gamble. In 1878, 20-year-old Adolph Ochs borrowed money and bought half interest in the struggling morning paper. Two years later when he assumed full ownership, it cost him $5,500. In 1892, the paper's staff moved to the Ochs Building on Georgia Avenue at East Eighth Street, which is now the Dome Building. In 1896, Ochs entrusted the management of the paper to his brother-in-law Harry C. Adler when he purchased The New York Times (circulation 20,000). Ochs remained publisher of the Chattanooga Times. Ochs' slogan, "To give the news impartially, without fear or favor" remains affixed atop the paper's mast today. The Times was controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family until 1999.

In 1933, Roy Ketner McDonald launched a free Thursday tabloid, delivered door to door, featuring stories, comics, and advertisements for his stores. Three years later circulation had hit 65,000 per week, making some ad revenue. On August 31 the paper began publishing as an evening daily with paid subscriptions. One year later, the Free Press circulation reached 33,000, within reach of another p.m. competitor, the Chattanooga News (circulation 35,000). McDonald bought the Chattanooga News from owner George Fort Milton in December 1939. Out of respect for Milton, McDonald put the News first in the merged name "News-Free Press". In their guide to writing, The Elements of Style, Strunk and White used the paper as an illustration of comically misleading punctuation, noting that the hyphen made it sound "as though the paper were news-free, or devoid of news."

By 1941, News-Free Press daily circulation reached 51,600, surpassing the Times, with 50,078. In competition, the Times began an evening newspaper competitor, the Chattanooga Evening Times. One year later, however, the competing newspapers joined business and production operations, while maintaining separate news and editorial departments. The Times ceased publishing in the evening and the News-Free Press dropped its Sunday edition. The two shared offices at 117 E. 10th St.