The Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area. The Dallas Morning News first began publishing on October 1, 1885 with a circulation of around 5,000 subscribers. Today, 481,000 copies are circulated daily and 661,000 copies are circulated on Sunday. ^* It is currently the 10th largest newspaper in terms of circulation in the United States, and has won numerous Pulitzers for both reporting and photography.

The paper also publishes Quick, a free weekday daily with abbreviated news primarily catering to 20- 30-year-olds, created partly in response to lagging circulation and readership numbers, and partly to head off a rival publication, the A.M. Journal Express, hoping to increase overall readership by eventually converting Quick readers into Morning News readers.

Belo Corp owns the papers, both of which are headquarted in downtown Dallas.

Dominant Dallas Paper

In the late 1980s, the "DMN" became the lone major newspaper in the Dallas market, when its rival The Dallas Times-Herald was closed after several years of hard-fought circulation wars between the two papers, especially over the then-bourgeoning classfied advertising market. In July of 1986, the Times-Herald was purchased by a fledgling newspaper impresario, the now-controversial William Dean Singleton. After 18 months of tepid efforts to turn the paper around, Singleton sold it to an associate, and on 8 December 1991, Belo Corp bought the Times Herald for $55 million, closing the paper the next day.

The fact that Singleton had begun his newspaper career at the Morning News in the 1970s feuled speculation that they had been behind the entire sale and closure of their rival paper. While the News obviously stood to benefit, no evidence was ever proffered of behavior outside the bounds of the admittedly-rough newspaper trade.

Ironically, it was not the first time the Belo Corp had bought (and closed) a paper named The Herald in Dallas; according the Texas State Historical Association, in

"...1879 Alfred H. Belo was investigating the possibility of establishing a sister paper in rapidly developing North Texas. When Belo's efforts to purchase the Herald George Bannerman Dealey to launch a new paper, the Morning News, which began publication on October 1, 1885. From the outset the Morning News enjoyed the double advantage of strong financial support and an accumulation of journalistic experience, and within a month and a half had absorbed its older rival." [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/daybyday/12-03-004.html" target="_blank" >^*

Circulation Woes

The Dallas Morning News has had an ongoing problem with its circulation numbers, being accused of inflating them to keep advertiser revenue high. In the mid-1980s, the paper was sued by the rival Times Herald, charging that the News was overstating circulation increases. In 2004, long after the Times Herald had ceased printing, The Dallas Morning News admitted it had indeed underreported circulation decreases, overstating Sunday circulation by 11.9% and daily circulation by 5.1%. The Morning News promised to pay advertisers ^*]23 million in restitution. The circulation problems worsened parent company Belo's financial condition and in late 2004, Belo laid off 250 workers, including 150 at the Morning News.