The Richmond News Leader
| Type | Defunct daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Media General |
| Founded | 1888 (as The Leader) |
| Ceased publication | 1992 |
| Headquarters | 333 East Grace Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States |
The Richmond News Leader was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Richmond, Virginia from 1888 to 1992. During much of its run, it was the largest newspaper source in Richmond, competing with the morning Richmond Times-Dispatch. By the late 1960s, afternoon papers had been steadily losing their audiences to television, and The News Leader was no exception. Its circulation at one time exceeded 200,000, but at the time of its closing, it had fallen below 80,000. Notable alumni of the newspaper included historian and biographer Douglas Southall Freeman, future television journalist Roger Mudd, conservative commentator James Kilpatrick, and editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly. During its run, it garnered a reputation as being one of the most politically conservative newspapers in the United States.
The News Leader began in nearby Manchester, Virginia, where it was founded as The Leader by J. F. Bradley and Ben P. Owen, Jr. in 1888. It was purchased in 1896 by Richmond newspaper publisher Joseph Bryan, who re-launched the paper on November 30 as The Evening Leader. On January 26, 1903, The Evening Leader merged with The Richmond News, which Harvey L. Wilson had founded in 1899 and John L. Williams had bought in 1900, to form The Richmond News Leader, owned by Williams. On the same day, Bryan's The Times and Williams' The Richmond Dispatch merged to become the Richmond Times-Dispatch, owned by Bryan. Bryan died in 1908, shortly after buying the News Leader from Williams, and left both papers to his son John Stewart Bryan. Both newspapers, the two primary sources of news in Richmond and the main competitors of each other, were owned and published by John Stewart Bryan until 1914, when he sold the Times-Dispatch to three families, including that of Norfolk newspaperman Samuel L. Slover, publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch. In 1940, Bryan repurchased the Times-Dispatch, forming the corporation Richmond Newspapers Inc., which became a subsidiary of the newly formed Media General in 1969. John Stewart Bryan died in 1944, leaving Richmond Newspapers Inc. to his son, David Tennant Bryan.
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