Winnipeg Free Press
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| OwnerTemplate:Pluralize from text | FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership |
| FounderTemplate:Pluralize from text | William Fisher Luxton |
| President | Mike Power |
| Editor | Paul Samyn |
| Founded | Script error: No such module "Date time". |
| Headquarters | 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6 |
| Readership | 194,000 weekdays 270,000 Saturdays, print and digital (as of Vividata SCC | Spring 2025) |
Sister newspapers | Brandon Sun |
| ISSN | 0828-1785 |
| OCLC number | 1607085 |
| Website | winnipegfreepress |
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The Winnipeg Free Press (founded as the Manitoba Free Press) is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as current events in sports, business, and entertainment and various consumer-oriented features, such as homes and automobiles appear on a weekly basis.
The Free Press was founded in 1872, only two years after Manitoba became part of Canada, in 1870. The newpaper's founding predated Winnipeg's own incorporation, in 1873.[1][2][3] The Winnipeg Free Press has since become the oldest newspaper in Western Canada that is still active.
Timeline
On November 30, 1872, the Manitoba Free Press was launched by William Fisher Luxton and John A. Kenny.[1] Luxton bought a press in New York City and, along with Kenny, rented a shack at 555 Main Street, near the present corner of Main Street and James Avenue.[4]
In 1874, the paper moved to a new building on Main Street, across from St. Mary Avenue.[4]
In 1882, control of the Free Press was passed on to Clifford Sifton.[4] The organization subsequently moved to a building on McDermot Avenue, where it would remain until 1900.[4]
In 1900, the paper moved to a new address on McDermot Avenue at Albert Street.[4]
In 1901, John Wesley Dafoe served as president, editor-in-chief, and editorial writer for the WFP until 1944.[4]
In 1905, the newspaper moved to a four-storey building at Portage and Garry.[4]
In 1913, the newspaper moved to 300 Carlton Street and would remain there for 78 years.[4]
In 1920, the Free Press took its newsprint supplier before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for violating the War Measures Act during World War I. The newspaper won the case, known as Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press, as the court determined that whether the state of national emergency continued after the war was a political matter for Parliament.[5]
On February 21, 1923, Harry Houdini was placed in the straight jacket by two city police officers and then hoisted by his feet with pulleys to 30 feet above the sidewalk off the side of the Winnipeg Free Press Building. The paper ran an amateur photo contest with impressive cash prizes of $15, $10 and $5 for the three best images of the escape. The contest would be won by L. B. Foote, who went on to chronicle events for the Free Press for two decades.[6]
On December 2, 1931, the paper was renamed the Winnipeg Free Press.[4]
In 1991, the Free Press moved to its current location in the Inkster Industrial Park, a Template:CAD plant[1] at 1355 Mountain Avenue.[4]
In December 2001, the Free Press and its sister paper, Brandon Sun, were bought from Thomson Newspapers by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.[1]
Strike
In 2008, at noon on Thanksgiving Day (Monday, October 13), about 1,000 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, representing editorial, advertising, circulation, and press staff, as well as newspaper carriers, launched a strike action.[7] The strike ended 16 days later, when the union ratified the final offer on Tuesday, October 28.[8] The contract was ratified by 67% of newspaper carriers, 75% of the pressmen, and 91% of the inside workers, including journalists.[9] The recent five-year contract was negotiated, ratified, and signed in 2013, with no threat of a strike. Workers and managers negotiated directly with great success, without the need of a lawyer that previous contracts had required.[10]
Circulation
As of November 1, 2009, the WFP ceased publishing a regular Sunday edition. In its place, a Sunday-only tabloid called On 7 was launched, but it has since been discontinued.
On March 27, 2011, the impending arrival of Metro in the Winnipeg market caused the Sunday newspaper to be retooled as a broadsheet format, Winnipeg Free Press SundayXtra.[11] The Sunday edition is now available exclusively online.
According to figures via Canadian Newspaper Association, the Free Press' average weekday circulation for 2013 was 108,583, while on Saturdays it was 144,278.[12] Because of the relatively small population of Manitoba, that meant that over 10% of the population could be receiving the paper and its advertisements. Like most Canadian daily newspapers, the Free Press has seen a decline in circulation, dropping its total by 17% to 106,473 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.[13]
- Daily average[13]
As of 2023,[update] the Winnipeg Free Press media kit claims that 1.15 million users visit the newspaper's network of sites each month, and that in Winnipeg, 439,000 adults read the publication in print or digital format each week.[14]
Notable staff
- John Wesley Dafoe 1901-1944, president, editor-in-chief, & wrote influential editorials
- Charles Edwards (1928 – early-1930s): journalist and news agency executive[15]
- Bartley Kives (2000–2016): arts and news writer; left to join CBWT-DT as a television journalist.
- Vince Leah (1980–1993): journalist, writer, sports administrator and member of the Order of Canada[16][17]
- Bob Moir (1948–1958): television producer, sports commentator, and journalist[18]
- Hal Sigurdson (1951–1963; 1976–1996): columnist and sports editor from 1976 to 1989[19]
- Maurice Smith (1927–1937; 1940–1976): columnist and sports editor from 1944 to 1976[20]
- Scott Young (1936–1940): sports writer from 1936 to 1940[21]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."History". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Manitoba Act 1870". Canadahistoryproject.ca. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."1874 Winnipeg's First Council Meeting". City of Winnipeg. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Goldsborough, Gordon (April 11, 2020) [November 19, 2011]. "Winnipeg Free Press (Manitoba Free Press)". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- ^ Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press [1923] UKPC 64, [1923] AC 695, [1923] UKPC 64 (25 July 1923) (on appeal from Ontario)
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Great Escapes". Winnipeg Free Press. September 21, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Winnipeg Free Press strike continues". CBC News. October 14, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Free Press strike ends". Winnipeg Free Press. October 29, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Winnipeg Free Press strike ends". CBC News. October 28, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Free Press workers ratify new contract". Winnipeg Free Press. April 15, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Sunday Free Press is bigger, better". Winnipeg Free Press. March 26, 2011.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2013 Daily Newspapers Circulation Report" (PDF). Newspapers Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Daily Newspaper Circulation Data". News Media Canada. Retrieved December 16, 2017. Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined), which includes paid and unpaid copies.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Free Press Media Kit – Winnipeg Free Press". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Charles Edwards of Broadcast News retires". The Brandon Sun. Brandon, Manitoba. The Canadian Press. August 13, 1971. p. 10.Template:Free access
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Goldsborough, Gordon (April 27, 2021). "Memorable Manitobans: Vincent 'Vince' Leah (1913–1993)". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Vince Leah: Journalist". Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board. 1994. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bob Moir: Class of 1985". Canadian Football Hall of Fame. 1985. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Prest, Ashley; Campbell, Tim (January 18, 2012). "A bit of an icon as a sports editor". Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. p. 22.Template:Free access
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Former FP Sports Editor, Maurice Smith, dead at 75". Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. February 21, 1985. p. 51.Template:Free access
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Scott Young". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Further reading
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cook, Ramsay. The politics of John W. Dafoe and the Free Press. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-5119-6.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Merrill, John Calhoun (1980). The world's great dailies : profiles of fifty newspapers. New York: Hastings House. pp. 351–365. ISBN 978-0-8038-8095-5.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Paterson, Edith (1970). Tales of early Manitoba from the Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Free Press.
External links
- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
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