Harrisburg Patriot News

The Patriot-News

The front page of The Patriot-News
Type	Three-times a week newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Advance Publications
Publisher	D. Lee Carlson
Editor	Cate Barron
Opinion editor	John L. Micek
Sports editor	Burke Noel
Founded	March 4, 1854 (as The Patriot)
Headquarters	2020 Technology Pkwy, Ste. 300 Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania  United States
Website	http://www.pennlive.com/

The Patriot-News was the largest daily newspaper serving the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. In 2005, the newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily/Sunday circulation in the United States. It has been owned by Advance Publications since 1947. On August 28, 2012, the paper's publisher announced that it would shift to a three-day publication schedule beginning Jan. 1, 2013. This follows similar moves at other Advance-owned publications. It is now published Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also, as of May 4, 2015, the Lancaster News paper, a 7-day publication, is now printed in the same facility as the Patriot-News.

The Patriot-News officially traces its history to March 4, 1854, with the founding of The Daily Patriot. Its heritage dates back, however, to December 1820, involving a weekly newspaper named The Pennsylvania Intelligencer. In 1855, the Patriot bought the Democratic Union, successor of the Intelligencer, and merged them into The Patriot and Union. It was a weekly paper, but published three days a week when the legislature was in session. It became a daily publication again in 1868 as The Morning Patriot, changing its name to the Harrisburg Daily Patriot in 1875 and dropping Harrisburg from its masthead in 1890. The other half of the paper began in 1917 as The Evening News. In 1947, both papers were bought by Edwin Russell, with financial backing from the Newhouse chain, forerunner of Advance Publications. Later that year, the Newhouse chain assumed majority ownership, though Russell remained as the papers' driving force until his death in 2001. In 1996, the Patriot and Evening News merged into a single morning paper, The Patriot-News.

For many years, The Patriot-News was infamous for an editorial printed by its predecessor, The Patriot and Union, on November 24, 1863; in which it dismissed the Gettysburg Address as "silly remarks" that should disappear into "a veil of oblivion." On November 14, 2013, The Patriot-News issued a retraction, saying the Patriot and Union editorial board failed to recognize the "momentous importance, timeless eloquence, and lasting significance" of the Gettysburg Address. The retraction received considerable national coverage; NPR and Fox News Channel interviewed several of the paper's editors. Deputy opinion page editor Matthew Dencey said that the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address was the perfect time to ask, "Gee, can you believe what rock heads ran this outfit 150 years ago?"