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Richmond Times-Dispatch

USINFO | 2013-07-05 11:08

Richmond Times-Dispatch
The July 27, 2005 front page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Berkshire Hathaway
Publisher	Thomas A. Silvestri
Editor	Daniel Finnegan
Founded	1850 (as the Richmond Dispatch)
Circulation	104,666 Daily 155,544 Sunday ^[1]
Official website	Times-Dispatch

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (RTD or TD for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state. It utilizes reports from the Associated Press.

Circulation
In addition to the Richmond area (including Petersburg, Chester, HopewellColonial Heights and surrounding areas), the Times-Dispatch has substantial readership in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Waynesboro. As the primary paper of the state's capital, the Times-Dispatch is also a default paper for rural regions of the state without large local papers circulating.

History and notable accomplishments

Development
The RTD has existed in some form for more than 150 years. In 1850, a newspaper called the Daily Dispatch was founded. In 1886, a competitor, the Richmond Daily Times was founded by Lewis Ginter. A year later, the paper's long association with the Bryan family began when Joseph Bryan (1845-1908) bought the Daily Times from Ginter. Under Bryan, the Daily Times changed its name to simply the Richmond Times in 1890. In 1896, Bryan acquired the Manchester Leader (founded in 1888) and launched the Evening Leader. In 1899, the evening Richmond News was founded. John L. Williams, owner of the Dispatch, bought the News in 1900.
By 1903, it was obvious Richmond was not big enough to support four papers. That year, Williams and Bryan agreed to a merger of Richmond's main newspapers. The morning papers merged to become the Richmond Times-Dispatch under Bryan's ownership, while the evening papers merged to become The Richmond News Leader under Williams' ownership. Bryan bought the News Leader in 1908. After he died later that year, the land for Richmond's Joseph Bryan Park was donated by his widow, Isobel ("Belle") Stewart Bryan, and it is named for him.
John Stewart Bryan became owner and publisher of the two papers after his father's death. He sold controlling interest in the Times-Dispatch to three families in 1914, but reacquired it in 194 when the two papers business interests merged to form Richmond Newspapers, in which Bryan held a 54 percent controlling interest. That conglomeration is now known as Media General.
On June 1, 1992; the News Leader, which had been losing circulation for many years, ceased publication and was folded into the Times-Dispatch.

December 21, 2004 Mosul attack
The Richmond Times-Dispatch entered the national spotlight after a suicide bomber penetrated the defenses of an American military base in Mosul, Iraq on December 21, 2004. The deadliest attack on an American military installation since the war began, the attack injured 69 people and killed 22, 14 of whom were US service members. Four of the 14 were Halliburton employees, four were Iraqi forces allied with the US, and two of the 14 were with the Virginia National Guard's Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion, a group that had a Times-Dispatchembedded journalist with them; these were that group's first fatalities. The terrorist group Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack. The embedded Times-Dispatch journalists' report and photographs, and the testimony of hometown Richmond soldiers were read, heard and seen across the nation after the particularly devastating insurgent attack.

Tacky Christmas lights tour
In 1990, The RTD borrowed an idea [1] from a local entrepreneur, Barry "Mad Dog" Gottlieb, to encourage a "Tacky Christmas Lights Tour" also known by locals as the "Tacky Light Tour". Every week, the RTD lists the addresses of houses where the most tackyChristmas lights can be found. This tradition has begun to spread to other cities, like Fairfax, Virginia (DC area) [2] as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Sale of Media General's newspapers
On May 17, 2012 Media General [3] announced the sale of its newspaper division to BH Media, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company. The sale included all of Media General's newspapers except The Tampa Tribune and its associated publications. Berkshire Hathaway bought 63 newspapers for $142 million and, as part of the deal, offered Media General a $400 million term loan at 10.5 percent interest that will mature in 2020 and a $45 million revolving line of credit. Berkshire Hathaway will also receive a seat on Media General's board of directors and an option to purchase a 19.9% stake in the company. [4]

Political associations
Diane Cantor, the wife of House Majority Leader, Republican Eric Cantor, sits on Media General's Board of Directors, RTD's former parent company.^[2] Because the paper serves much of the congressman's 7th district, some controversy over coverage was noted, but generally dismissed as there was no evidence that she is involved in the paper's content at all. Also, her association with the paper is noted at the end of any Times-Dispatch story about Rep. Cantor. On May 17, 2012 Media General announced it was selling its entire newspaper division, expect properties in Florida such as The Tampa Tribune, to Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary BH Media. Because of this sale, which closed on June 25 2012, Diane Cantor no longer has any connection to the former Media General newspapers.

Commentary, opinion, and editorials
A prominent newspaper in the state, the Times-Dispatch frequently features commentary from important figures from around Virginia, such as officials and presidents from Virginia Commonwealth University, The College of William and Mary, and the University of Virginia. Richmond Mayor Douglas Wilder, who had articles published in the paper before he held that position, often outlines policies his administration is implementing. During the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign, its Commentary sections featured some pieces by Retired Admiral Roy Hoffmann, a founding member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and resident of Richmond suburb Chesterfield, against Democratic candidate John Kerry.
Editorially, the Times-Dispatch has historically leaned conservative, leading the paper to frequently endorse candidates of the Republican Party. It supported many of former President George W. Bush's policies, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq and a flat income tax. However, the paper is not unilaterally conservative; for example, a 2005 editorial called for the then House Majority LeaderTom DeLay to relinquish his leadership position on ethical grounds. There are also some liberal syndicated columnists who appear frequently, especially Paul Krugman.
During the Civil Rights Movement, the Times-Dispatch, like nearly every major newspaper in Virginia, was an ardent supporter of segregation.

Sports
Like most major papers, the sports section has MLB, NASCAR, MLS, NBA, NCAA, NFL, and NHL scores and results. The Times-Dispatch sports pages naturally focus on Richmond and Virginia professional and college teams. In addition to Richmond Flying Squirrels and Richmond Kickers coverage, readers can see in-depth coverage of the Washington Redskins in the fall and the Washington Nationals in the summer. "Virginians in the Pros" and similar features track all sorts of professional athletes who were born, lived in, or attended college in Virginia. Large automobile racing events like the Sprint Cup (at the Richmond International Raceway) are often given a separate preview guide.
Catering to the vast array of Virginia hunters, fishers, hikers, and outdoorsmen, somewhere between half a page to a whole page most days is dedicated to outdoors articles, currently written by Lee Graves, who succeeded Garvey Winegar in November 2003. The "Scoreboard," which features minor-league standings, Vegas betting, and other sports scores, also gives tide measurements, river levels, and skiing conditions, depending on the season.
Virginians have traditionally been highly supportive of high school athletics, and its flagship paper is a testament to that. Particular emphasis is given to American football and basketball; the Times-Dispatch ranks area teams in these sports, in the style of the NCAA polls, and generally updates them weekly. In the fall, Sunday editions have the scores of all high school football games played that weekend from across the state. Prep games are also receive above-average coverage in baseball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Stories are frequently done on notable prep athletes, such as those from foreign countries, those with disabilities, those who play a multitude of sports, or those who had little or no prior experience in a sport which they now excel in.

Business
The business desk consists of six reporters; they cover technology, retail, energy, insurance, banking, economics, real estate, manufacturing, transportation and consumer issues. Unlike many newspapers, the Times-Dispatch produces a widely read Monday business section, Metro Business. It contains a center cover story on a regional business-related issue and is filled with events for the coming week, advice columnists and gadget reviews. In June 2006, the decision was made to remove the stock tables from the daily sections beginning July 15 and replace the numerous pages with a "Markets Review" section for subscribers who request it. The stock section was eliminated in 2009, as was the Sunday Real Estate section (both were cost-cutting moves). The Sunday Business section, which previously was a showcase of general business-interest stories and features, has been rechristened Moneywise and now features primarily consumer-related coverage. Moneywise is also among select Sunday business sections nationwide that print Wall Street Journal Sunday pages.

Controversy
On July 12, 2006, Richmond-based news magazine Style Weekly ran a cover story [5] titled "Truth and Consequences," a piece that took a look at the Times-Dispatch's operations as the paper settled into its first year with new management. The report described new editor Glenn Proctor, who took over Nov. 14, 2005, as an "inelegant, blunt and harsh critic — to the point of saying, repeatedly, that some reporters' work 'sucks.'" The piece described a newsroom teetering on the edge, preparing for promised changes — such as possible layoffs, fewer pages and combined sections — that eventually were realized. On April 2, 2009, the Times-Dispatch cut 90 jobs, laying off 59 workers, including 28 newsroom jobs. Proctor left the paper in 2011.
The front page of the Times-Dispatch’s August 14, 2011 Sunday paper consisted entirely of a Wells Fargo advertisement, commemorating said bank’s acquisition of Wachovia properties in Virginia.^[3]

Syndicated columnists