A Case Study of The Cincinnati Enquirer
Threads of Influence: The Underground Railroad Freedom Center
and Mayor Charlie Luken's Vine Street Project
By Jaclyn Giovis and David Greber
Enquirer Statistics and History:
The Cincinnati Enquirer has a rich and complicated ownership history.
It has endured a number of fires, hardships and political or financial influences.
The Enquirer was first an afternoon newspaper called The Advertiser (DeCamp 9). The
Advertiser, owned and published by Moses Dawson, prided itself on being the voice
of the populist, Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson (9). When brothers John and Charles
Brough purchased the newspaper from Dawson in 1941, the name of the newspaper changed
also, becoming The Daily Enquirer. In 1843, it switched to mornings so that it could
be delivered by same-day mail (www.gannett.com).
The Enquirer was also one of two papers owned by the renowned McLean family, the
other was The Washington Post (www.gannett.com). Under McLean ownership, for 15 years
before and after the turn of the century, the newspaper was regional, delivering
papers throughout Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky on its own early morning trains (47).
The name McLean was connected with The Enquirer for 94 years (33).
In the mid-20th century, the newspaper changed ownership nearly a half dozen times,
and at one point employees owned controlling interest of The Enquirer. Employees
kept the Enquirer independent from 1952 to 1956 before selling it to E.W. Scripps
Co. (Decamp 142). In 1973, Carl Lindner bought the paper from Scripps-Howard in hopes
of keeping the ownership in the hands of Cincinnatians (142).
Meanwhile, Frank Dale, former publisher, continued in the role of publisher for more
than two years (142). Lindner later persuaded his friend and associate, William J.
Keating, to resign from Congress to run the paper (142).
Two years following Keating's hire, Lindner sold the Enquirer to a Phoenix, Ariz.,
TV and billboard company named Combined Communications Corp. (CCC) (142). He gained
$34 million from the business transaction (144).
CCC clustered with other papers and overall local ownership became less important
in the industry (142-143). Finally, in 1979, CCC merged with Gannett Co. (www.gannett.com).
To date, The Enquirer continues to be owned by Gannett Co., which is a multi-billion
dollar international company and is the nation's largest newspaper group in circulation
(www.gannett.com).
Gannett Corporation
Gannett owns 95 daily newspapers, including USA Today, the nation's largest newspaper
in circulation (2.3 million) (www.gannett.com). In addition, Gannett owns a host
of non-daily newspapers, a weekend magazine, 22 television stations, over 100 Web
sites, and has invested in creating other supporting business ventures, such as advertising
and marketing services.
The company was founded in 1906 by Frank E. Gannett and associates, incorporated
in 1923, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967 (www.gannett.com).
The company recorded $6.3 billion in operating revenue in 2001 (www.gannett.com).
The current president and publisher of The Enquirer is Harry M. Whipple. Whipple,
54, became president and publisher of The Enquirer on April 1, 1992. Before that
he was president of TNI Partners in Tucson, AZ (publishes Arizona Daily Star and
Tucson Citizen).
Whipple has over 25 years of experience as president and publisher,
regional manager, advertising director, assistant publisher and general manager at
various newspapers and for media corporations
across the nation. His current community activities include:
* Economics Center for Education and Research, Chairman, Board of Trustees
* Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Chairman, Board of Trustees; Executive
Committee
* Metropolitan Club, Board of Directors
* National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Co-Chair, Board of Trustees
* Zoological Society of Cincinnati, Board of Trustees
Whipple attended Indiana University, University of Evansville and Arkansas Polytechnic
College, served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. European Command and has two children,
Garth and Erin.
According to the Gannett Web site, the newspaper's daily circulation is 197,399 and
the Sunday circulation is 310,673. Nearly 1,143 employees work for the newspaper
in some capacity (www.gannett.com).
The Enquirer is set up to cover the city's 13-county region, which includes counties
of Kentucky and Indiana. In order to cover the city and its outer regions most effectively,
The Enquirer operates four additional news bureaus that are located in Butler/Warren
County, Kentucky, Columbus and Washington D.C.
The paper's major competitors are The Cincinnati Post, with which it operates under
a joint operating agreement, The Cincinnati Business Courier, The Dayton Daily News
and City Beat magazine.
After we researched Cincinnati demographics and the local economy, city government
and The Enquirer, as a media outlet, we choose to examine the coverage of The National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center and Mayor Charlie Luken's Vine Street Project
to see if each was affected by a thread of influence. The next two months of research
involved collecting and reading coverage of the issues in The Enquirer, as well as
coverage from its news competitors, in order to monitor influence on the issue and
its larger community. Also, various interviews were conducted to give voice and perspective
to the issue. Interviews included Enquirer managing editor Rosemary Goudreau, assistant
local news editor Annie-Laurie Blair and reporters Kevin Aldridge, Ken Alltucker,
Robert Anglen and Kristina Goetz. Also, in case one Ernest Britton, director of executive
services for the Freedom Center was interviewed. Finally, all of the data was compiled
and analyzed. Click below to view the resulting case studies.
A Case Study of The Cincinnati Enquirer
Threads of Influence: The Underground Railroad Freedom Center
and Mayor Charlie Luken's Vine Street Project
By Jaclyn Giovis and David Greber
Introduction
• Community Profile
• Company profile • Case Study • Conclusion
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