История и банкротство газеты Boston Herald

US newspaper

In December 2017, the Herald filed for bankruptcy. On February 14, 2018, Digital First Media successfully bid $11.9 million to purchase the company in a bankruptcy auction; the acquisition was completed on March 19, 2018. As of August 2018, the paper had approximately 110 total employees, compared to about 225 before the sale.

The Herald history traces back through two lineages, the Daily Advertiser and the old Boston Herald, and two media moguls, William Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdoch.

The original Boston Herald was founded in 1846 by a group of Boston printers jointly under the name of John A. French & Company. The paper was published as a single two sided sheet, selling for one cent. Its first editor, William O. Eaton, just 22 years old, said "The Herald will be independent in politics and religion; liberal, industrious, enterprising, critically concerned with literacy and dramatic matters, and diligent in its mission to report and analyze the news, local and global." In 1847, the Boston Herald absorbed the Boston American Eagle.

In October 1917, John H. Higgins, the publisher and treasurer of the Boston Herald bought out its next door neighbor The Boston Journal and created The Boston Herald and Boston Journal

Even earlier than the Herald, the weekly American Traveler was founded in 1825 as a bulletin for stagecoach listings.

The Boston Evening Traveler was founded in 1845. The Boston Evening Traveler was the successor to the weekly American Traveler and the semi weekly Boston Traveler. In 1912, the Herald acquired the Traveler, continuing to publish both under their own names. For many years, the newspaper was controlled by many of the investors in United Shoe Machinery Corporation. After a newspaper strike in 1967, Herald Traveler Corp. suspended the afternoon Traveler and absorbed the evening edition into the Herald to create the Boston Herald Traveler.

The Boston Daily Advertiser was established in 1813 in Boston by Nathan Hale. The paper grew to prominence throughout the 19th century, taking over other Boston area papers. In 1832 The Advertiser took over control of The Boston Patriot, and then in 1840 it took over and absorbed The Boston Gazette. The paper was purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1917. In 1920 the Advertiser was merged with The Boston Record, initially the combined newspaper was called the Boston Advertiser however when the combined newspaper became an illustrated tabloid in 1921 it was renamed The Boston American. Hearst Corp. continued using the name Advertiser for its Sunday paper until the early 1970s.

On September 3, 1884, The Boston Evening Record was started by the Boston Advertiser as a campaign newspaper. The Record was so popular that it was made a permanent publication. but Hearst faced steep declines in circulation and advertising. The company announced it would close the Herald American—making Boston a one newspaper town—on December 3, 1982. When the deadline came, Australian born media baron Rupert Murdoch was negotiating to buy the paper and save it. He closed on the deal after 30 hours of talks with Hearst and newspaper unions—and five hours after Hearst had sent out notices to newsroom employees telling them they were terminated. The newspaper announced its own survival the next day with a full page headline: "You Bet We're Alive!"

Murdoch changed the paper's name back to the Boston Herald. The Herald continued to grow, expanding its coverage and increasing its circulation until 2001, when nearly all newspapers fell victim to declining circulations and revenue.

In February 1994, Murdoch's News Corporation was forced to sell the paper, in order that its subsidiary Fox Television Stations could legally consummate its purchase of Fox affiliate WFXT (Channel 25) because Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy included language in an appropriations barring one company from owning a newspaper and television station in the same market. Patrick J. Purcell, who was the publisher of the Boston Herald and a former News Corporation executive, purchased the Herald and established it as an independent newspaper. Several years later, Purcell would give the Herald a suburban presence it never had by purchasing the money losing Community Newspaper Company from Fidelity Investments. Although the companies merged under the banner of Herald Media, Inc., the suburban papers maintained their distinct editorial and marketing identity. After years of operating profits at Community Newspaper and losses at the Herald, Purcell in 2006 sold the suburban chain to newspaper conglomerate Liberty Group Publishing of Illinois, which soon after changed its name to GateHouse Media. The deal, which also saw GateHouse acquiring The Patriot Ledger and The Enterprise respectively in south suburban Quincy and Brockton, netted $225 million for Purcell, who vowed to use the funds to clear the Herald's debt and reinvest in the Paper.

On August 5, 2013, the Herald launched an internet radio station named Boston Herald Radio which includes radio shows by much of the Herald staff. The station's morning lineup is simulcast on 830 AM WCRN from 10 am Eastern time to 12 noon Eastern time.

In December 2017, the Herald announced plans to sell itself to GateHouse Media after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The deal was scheduled to be completed by February 2018, with the new company streamlining and having layoffs in coming months. However, in early January 2018, another potential buyer, Revolution Capital Group of Los Angeles, filed a bid with the federal bankruptcy court; the Herald reported in a press release that "the court requires BHI [Boston Herald, Inc.] to hold an auction to allow all potential buyers an opportunity to submit competing offers."

In February 2018, acquisition of the Herald by Digital First Media for almost $12 million was approved by the bankruptcy court judge in Delaware. The new owner, DFM, said they would be keeping 175 of the approximately 240 employees the Herald had when it sought bankruptcy protection in December 2017. The acquisition was completed on March 19, 2018. with competitor The Boston Globe, moving printing from Taunton, Massachusetts, to Rhode Island and its "dehumanizing cost cutting efforts" in personnel. In June, some design and advertising layoffs were expected, with work moving to a sister paper, The Denver Post. The "consolidation" took effect in August, with nine jobs eliminated. In late August 2018, it was announced that the Herald would move its offices from Boston's Seaport District to Braintree, Massachusetts, in late November or early December. On October 27, 2020, the Boston Herald endorsed Donald Trump for the 2020 U. S. Presidential Election.