Daily newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma
The
Tulsa World
is an American daily
newspaper
. It serves the city of
Tulsa, Oklahoma
, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of
Oklahoma
. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the state, after
The Oklahoman
.
It was founded in 1905 and locally owned by the Lorton family for almost 100 years until February 2013, when it was sold to BH Media Group,
[2]
a
Berkshire Hathaway
company controlled by
Warren Buffett
.
[3]
The Tulsa World Media Company became part of
Lee Enterprises
in 2020.
[4]
The paper was jointly operated with the
Tulsa Tribune
from 1941 to 1992.
[5]
History
[
edit
]
Republican activist James F. McCoy and Kansas journalist J.R. Brady published the first edition of the
Tulsa World
on September 14, 1905
[6]
at the time Brady was starting
Tulsa World
, he was also publishing the Indian Republican a weekly newspaper, which was previously edited by a
con artist
named Myron Boyle. Brady had bought the
Indian Republican
in 1905 and fired Boyle in the following year. Boyle borrowed $500 from Dr. S. G. Kennedy, ostensibly to pay some personal debts. Instead, he left town without repaying Dr. Kennedy.
[7]
Brady was sufficiently successful establishing the
Tulsa World
that it attracted a Missouri mine owner, George Bayne, and his brother-in-law, Charles Dent, who bought and ran the paper for the next five years.
[7]
In 1911,
Eugene Lorton
, who had just sold his stake in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper, and moved to Tulsa, bought an interest in the
Tulsa World
, becoming its editor,
[8]
and then, with financial backing from
Harry Ford Sinclair
, the sole owner and publisher in 1917.
[7]
Beginning in 1915, the
Tulsa World
fought an editorial battle advocating a proposal to build a reservoir on
Spavinaw Creek
and pipe the water 55 miles to Tulsa.
[6]
Charles Page
was among those who opposed the Spavinaw plan; he advocated a plan in his own newspaper to sell water from the Shell Creek water system, which Page owned.
[9]
[10]
Page's newspaper, the
Morning News
, closed in 1919 after Tulsans approved a bond issue to pipe the water from Spavinaw.
[9]
He sold a companion paper,
Tulsa Democrat
, to
Richard Lloyd Jones
, who renamed it the
Tulsa Tribune
.
[9]
In the 1920s, the
Tulsa World
was known for its opposition to the
Ku Klux Klan
,
[6]
which had risen to local prominence in the wake of the
Tulsa Race Riot
in the spring of 1921. Lorton was active in
Republican Party
politics until he was defeated by
William B. Pine
, in the
1924 primary election
for the
US Senate
; Pine went on to win the general election.
[8]
Lorton then supported Democrats
Alfred E. Smith
in the
1928 Presidential election
[8]
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
in
1932
and
1936
. However, Lorton refused to support Roosevelt's third term bid in
1940
;
[6]
he returned to the Republicans and remained a GOP supporter for the rest of his life.
[8]
The
Tulsa Tribune
and
Tulsa World
entered a
joint operating agreement
in June 1941.
[5]
Eugene Lorton died in 1949,
[8]
leaving majority interest in the newspaper to his wife Maude and smaller shares to four daughters and 20 employees. Eugene's presumed successor, Robert Lorton, had died at age 24 in 1939.
[11]
In the 1950s, Maude Lorton transferred one-fourth of the company to attorney Byron Boone, who became publisher in 1959. Upon her death, she left the rest of her shares to her grandson Robert. In 1964, Robert Lorton became director of the News Publishing Corporation, which oversaw the non-editorial operations of both the
Tulsa Tribune
and
Tulsa World
. In 1968, he became president of the
Tulsa World
and publisher upon Boone's death in 1988. The
Tulsa Tribune
ceased operations in 1992 and
Tulsa World
acquired its assets.
[5]
Robert Lorton reacquired the
World'
s outstanding shares and made the newspaper entirely family-owned once again. In May 2005, he passed the title of publisher to his son Robert E. Lorton III. During the same year, World Publishing Company had 700 employees, and was ranked as one of Oklahoma's largest employers.
[12]
In February 2013, the paper announced that it would be sold to
Berkshire Hathaway
's BH Media Group, controlled by
Warren Buffett
.
[3]
In 2015, BH Media bought six weekly papers and the daily
Tulsa Business & Legal News
from Community Publishers Inc.
[13]
On April 20, 2015, four
Tulsa World
journalists?including two nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize
?suddenly resigned their jobs to accept positions at
The Frontier
, a new online-only publication launched by the former
World
publisher, Bobby Lorton.
[14]
[15]
In 2016, the World announced it would not endorse any candidate in the
2016 election
, saying that the American people had been presented with "the least acceptable list of candidates for president in modern times." The paper had maintained its loyalty to the GOP after Eugene Lorton's death; it had endorsed the GOP standardbearer in every election since 1940.
[16]
Recent developments
[
edit
]
In February 2013, the paper announced that it would be sold to
Berkshire Hathaway
's BH Media Group, controlled by
Warren Buffett
.
[3]
Lee Enterprises
announced an agreement to buy BH Media Group publications and
The Buffalo News
for $140 million cash on January 29, 2020. The acquisition includes the
Tulsa World
.
[4]
As of September 2012, weekday circulation was 95,003; Saturday circulation was 104,602; and Sunday circulation was 133,066.
[
citation needed
]
In April 2011, the World introduced a metered model to its digital products that limits the amount of locally produced articles that a non-subscriber can view at no charge. Once viewers have opened 5 stories in 30 days, they will be asked to purchase a subscription. The home page, all section pages, classifieds and most syndicated content is unrestricted to all readers.
"In reality, more people are engaged with our content than ever before. But it no longer seems fair to have a portion of our readers pay for our content while others do not. Therefore, like many publications, we have decided to charge a fee for our digital content. Print subscribers will continue to receive unlimited access to our digital products," wrote then publisher and CEO Robert E. Lorton III in a letter to readers
[17]
In March 2008, the
World
closed its zoned suburban newspapers, called the "Community World," and laid off its 18 staff members.
[18]
Tulsa World
laid off 28 employees in early 2009. Twenty-six newsroom employees were terminated immediately.
[18]
Editors said in a memo that staff members would be challenged to produce a quality product after the layoffs, and editors asked remaining newsroom employees to take on new duties.
[
citation needed
]
On March 29, 2009, the
World
published a column by its then publisher, Robert E. Lorton III, responding to what Lorton called "an unusual amount of concerned correspondence in regard to the future of this company and our industry." Lorton asserted that despite the difficult economy and general downward trends in the newspaper industry and the World's own staff cuts, that
Tulsa World
remains profitable and has a healthy capital structure.
[19]
The World further reduced staff on March 1, 2011 by terminating eighteen employees, "the result of a company-wide evaluation by management of operational efficiencies." The
World
says "the reduction represents approximately 3 percent of its staff."
[20]
Also in January 2009, the
Tulsa World
and
Oklahoma City
's daily newspaper,
The Oklahoman
, announced a content-sharing agreement in which each paper would carry some content created by the other. The papers also said they would "focus on reducing some areas of duplication, such as sending reporters from both
The Oklahoman
and
Tulsa World
to cover routine news events."
[21]
In mid-January 2009,
Tulsa World
filed a
libel
lawsuit against noted local blogger Michael Bates,
Urban Tulsa Weekly
, and the
Weekly
'
s editor and publisher, over a column Bates wrote for the weekly paper, in which Bates expressed doubts about the
World
'
s circulation numbers based on a 2006 report by the
Audit Bureau of Circulation
.
[
citation needed
]
On January 20,
The Tulsa World
said it would drop the case against
Urban Tulsa Weekly
and its editor and publisher, after the weekly paper agreed to issue a retraction,
[22]
but Bates remained a defendant.
[23]
Tulsa World
'
s decision to sue a competitor paper was criticized in a column by
Slate
editor
Jack Shafer
.
[24]
On February 12, 2009, the
World
reported that Bates had issued an apology and retraction, and that the libel lawsuit had been settled on confidential terms.
[25]
Notable staff
[
edit
]
Competing newspapers
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lee Enterprises.
"Form 10-K"
.
investors.lee.net
. Retrieved
February 29,
2024
.
- ^
BH Media Group
- ^
a
b
c
Greene, Wayne (March 18, 2013).
"Tulsa World will be sold to BH Media Group"
.
Tulsa World
. Tulsa. Archived from
the original
on February 28, 2013
. Retrieved
July 17,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
staff and wire.
"Post-Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises makes $140M deal to buy Berkshire newspapers"
.
stltoday.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2020-01-30
. Retrieved
2020-01-30
.
- ^
a
b
c
"The Media Business; Yet Another Afternoon Daily Plans to Close"
.
The New York Times
. 3 August 1992
. Retrieved
18 February
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"
Tulsa World
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture"
.
okhistory.org
.
Archived
from the original on May 18, 2015.
- ^
a
b
c
"Flim-Flammery and the Devil: An Early History of the Tulsa World"
.
This Land Press
.
Archived
from the original on July 14, 2014
. Retrieved
July 25,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Lorton, Eugene - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture"
.
okhistory.org
.
Archived
from the original on May 18, 2015
. Retrieved
July 25,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
.
- ^
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
.
- ^
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
4 March
2017
.
- ^
"Printing and Publishing Industry - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture"
.
okhistory.org
.
- ^
"BH Media Group buys local weeklies, Tulsa Business and Legal News"
.
Tulsa World
. 2015-04-21
. Retrieved
2015-04-21
.
- ^
"
Tulsa World
loses four journalists to former
World
publisher's soon-to-launch news site"
.
jimromenesko.com
.
- ^
Investigative Reporting
,
Oklahoma Press Association
, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ^
"For president? None of the above"
. Tulsa World. August 8, 2016.
- ^
"Open Letter from Publisher Robert E. Lorton III"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
2012-10-21
.
- ^
a
b
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
4 March
2017
.
- ^
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
4 March
2017
.
- ^
"announces workforce reduction"
.
Tulsa World
. 3 January 2011
. Retrieved
21 October
2012
.
- ^
Joe Strupp (23 January 2009).
"
'Tulsa World', 'Oklahoman' to Share Content"
.
Archived
from the original on 6 June 2018.
- ^
Keith Skrzypczak (19 January 2009).
"Letter from the Editor"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 February 2009
. Retrieved
22 January
2009
.
- ^
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
4 March
2017
.
- ^
"Why Tulsa's daily paper will regret suing the city's alternative weekly for libel"
.
Slate Magazine
.
- ^
"Tulsa World"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
4 March
2017
.
- ^
Tim Stanley (7 July 2013).
"Mildred Ladner Thompson 1918?2013: Former Tulsa World columnist witnessed history"
.
Tulsa World
. Archived from
the original
on 27 April 2012
. Retrieved
16 July
2013
.
External links
[
edit
]