History and Ownership Changes
– The Milwaukee Sentinel was founded in 1837 by John O’Rourke, with funding from Solomon Juneau.
– Harrison Reed took over the Sentinel’s operations in response to a request from Juneau.
– The establishment of the Whig party led the Sentinel into partisan politics.
– In 1840, the Sentinel endorsed William Henry Harrison for president.
– Ownership and leadership changes occurred, including partnerships with David M. Keeler and John S. Fillmore, retirement of Keeler, and the appointment of Rufus King as editor.
– T.D. Jermain and H.H. Brightman purchased the paper in 1857, but King remained as editor.
– A.C. Botkin replaced Rufus King as editor in 1874.
– Charles F. Pfister bought the Sentinel outright in 1901.
– The Hearst Corporation acquired a majority stake in the Sentinel in 1924.
– Paul Block acquired Pfister’s remaining stake in 1929.
– The Milwaukee Sentinel & Telegram was formed through a merger with other newspapers.
Influence and Political Affiliations
– The Sentinel played a role in encouraging the rejection of Wisconsin’s adopted constitution in 1847.
– It launched a German-language paper, Der Volksfreund, to bring German immigrants to the Whig cause.
– The Sentinel prospered during the Civil War but experienced a decline in circulation afterward.
– The paper became a mouthpiece for Republican politician Matt Carpenter and the state Republican central committee.
Rivalries and Acquisitions
– Stalwart Republicans purchased the old Democratic Milwaukee News and resurrected it as the Republican and News in 1880.
– The Republicans eventually bought the Sentinel outright and issued it as the Republican-Sentinel.
– Lucius W. Nieman resigned as managing editor and joined the Milwaukee Journal due to disagreements over the paper’s defense of unregulated corporations.
– The Milwaukee Journal gained acclaim for its coverage of a deadly hotel fire, while the Sentinel defended the hotel’s management.
– The Republican-Sentinel remained a major force in the state’s Republican party.
Notable Contributors
– Historian Frederick Jackson Turner served as the Sentinel’s Madison correspondent in 1884.
– Other notable contributors included John O’Rourke, Harrison Reed, Jason Downer, Increase A. Lapham, and Horace Rublee.
– The Sentinel employed female compositors during the Civil War due to a shortage of skilled printers.
21st Century Changes and Awards
– The Journal Sentinel had the 31st-largest circulation among major U.S. newspapers in 2012.
– Journal Media Group was acquired by the Gannett Company in 2016.
– The Journal Sentinel became part of Gannett’s USA Today Network Wisconsin.
– The Journal Sentinel began printing all of Gannett’s state papers in 2018.
– The Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have received Pulitzer Prizes.
– The papers’ archives were digitized by Google, with access later limited.
– The Milwaukee Public Library loaned missing microfilm volumes to complete the digitization.
– Newsbank attempted to sell digital archive access to the library, but it was too expensive.
– The newspaper changed ownership to Gannett, and Google Newspapers access was restored in 2017.Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Journal_Sentinel
