The Miami Herald - History

History

The first edition was published September 15, 1903, as The Miami Evening Record. After the recession of 1907, the newspaper had severe financial difficulties. Its largest creditor was Henry Flagler. Through Frank B. Shutts as its publisher, who was also the founder of Shutts & Bowen, Mr. Flagler acquired the paper and renamed it The Miami Herald on December 1, 1910. Although it is the longest continuously published newspaper in Miami, the earliest newspaper in the region was The Tropical Sun, established in 1891. The Miami Metropolis, which later became The Miami News was founded in 1896 and the Herald's longest competitor until 1988 when it went out of business.

During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, The Miami Herald was the largest newspaper in the world as measured by lines of advertising. During The Great Depression in the 1930s,The Herald came close to receivership but recovered.

On October 25, 1939, John S. Knight, son of a noted Ohio newspaperman, bought The Herald from Frank B. Shutts. Knight became editor and publisher and made his brother, James L. Knight, the business manager. The Herald had 383 employees. Lee Hills arrived as city editor in September 1942. He later became The Herald's publisher and eventually chairman of Knight-Ridder Inc., a position he held until 1981.

The Miami Herald International Edition, printed by partner newspapers throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, began in 1946. It is currently commonly available at resorts in the Caribbean countries such as the Dominican Republic and though printed by the largest local newspaper Listín Diario it is not available outside such tourist areas. It was later extended to Mexico in 2002.

The Herald won its first Pulitzer Prize in 1950, for its reporting on Miami's organized crime. Its circulation was 176,000 daily and 204,000 on Sundays. On August 19, 1960, construction began on the present Herald building on Biscayne Bay. Also on that day, Alvah H. Chapman, started work as James Knight’s assistant. Chapman was later promoted to Knight-Ridder chairman and chief executive officer. The Herald moved into its new building at One Herald Plaza without missing an edition on March 23–24, 1963.Publication of a Spanish language supplemental insert named El Herald began in 1976. It was renamed El Nuevo Herald in 1987, and in 1998 became an independent publication.

In 2003, The Miami Herald and El Universal of Mexico City created an international joint venture, and in 2004 they together launched The Herald Mexico, a short-lived English language newspaper for readers in Mexico. Its final issue was published in May 2007.

On July 27, 2005, former Miami city commissioner Arthur Teele walked into the main lobby of Herald headquarters, dropped off a package for columnist Jim DeFede, and asked a security officer to tell Herald columnist Jim DeFede to tell his wife Stephanie he 'loved her' before pulling out a gun and committing suicide. His suicide happened the day the Miami New Times, a weekly newspaper, published salacious details of Teele's alleged affairs, including allegations Teele had sex and used cocaine with a transsexual prostitute. Shortly before committing suicide, Teele had had a telephone conversation with DeFede. DeFede recorded this call without Teele's knowledge, illegal under Florida law. DeFede admitted to Herald management that he had taped the call. Although the paper used quotes from the tape in its coverage, DeFede was fired the next day for violating the paper's code of ethics and was likely guilty of a felony. Many journalists and readers of the Herald disagreed with the decision to fire rather than suspend DeFede, arguing that it was made in haste and that the punishment was disproportionate to the offense. 528 journalists, including about 200 current and former Herald staffers, called on the Herald to reinstate DeFede, but the paper's management refused to back down. The state attorney's office later declined to file charges against the columnist, holding that the potential violation was "without a (living) victim or a complainant."

On September 8, 2006, Miami Herald's president Jesús Díaz Jr. fired three journalists because they had allegedly been paid by the United States Government to work in anti-Cuba propaganda TV and radio channels. The three were Pablo Alfonso, Wilfredo Cancio Isla and Olga Connor. Less than a month later, and following the pressure of the Cuban community in Miami, Díaz resigned after reinstating the fired journalists. Nevertheless, he continues claiming that such payments, especially if coming from organisms of the state, violate the principles of journalistic independence. At least seven other journalists that do not work at the Herald, namely Miguel Cossio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Juan Manuel Cao, Ariel Remos, Omar Claro, Helen Aguirre Ferre, Paul Crespo and Ninoska Perez-Castellón, were also paid for programs on Radio Martí or TV Martí, both financed by the government of the United States through the Broadcasting Board of Governors, receiving a total of between 15,000 and 175,000 USD since 2001.

In May 2011, the paper announced it had sold 14 acres (5.7 ha) of Biscayne Bayfront land surrounding its headquarters for $236 million, to a Malaysian resort developer, Genting Malaysia Berhad; McClatchy announced that the Herald and El Nuevo Herald would be moving to another location by 2013.