The Ledger
| File:LakelandLedger 20170101 A01.jpg The January 1, 2017 front page of The Ledger. | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | New Media Investment Group |
| Publisher | Brian Burns |
| Editor | Lenore Devore |
| Founded | August 22, 1924 |
| Headquarters | Lakeland, Florida |
| ISSN | 0163-0288 |
| OCLC number | 187953892 |
| Website | TheLedger.com |
The Ledger is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida and the Polk County area.
The paper was founded on August 22, 1924 as the Lakeland Evening Ledger. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning Lakeland Star-Telegram. By 1930, it was obvious that Lakeland could not support two papers, so Ledger Publishing Company merged the two papers into a single morning paper, the Lakeland Ledger and Star-Telegram. In 1941, Star-Telegram was dropped from the masthead, and in 1967 the name was shortened to simply The Ledger.
The New York Times Company bought The Ledger in 1970 and owned it until 2012, when it sold its entire regional newspaper group to Halifax Media.[1] In 2015, Halifax was acquired by New Media Investment Group.[2]
Jerome Ferson became publisher of the newspaper on July 30, 2007. Kevin Drake became publisher of the newspaper on January 21, 2014. [3] In October of 2016, Drake left The Ledger to return to his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C. to work as a group publisher for GateHouse Media. [4]
Brian Burns, former publisher of The Tampa Tribune, joined The Ledger as publisher on January 25, 2017.[5]
According to nationwideadvertising.com, approximate circulation is 65,987; on Sunday, 81,366. In 2010 Alliance for Auditing approved a rule change allowing traditional print newspapers to combine their online readership to their print circulation. Actual circulation data for print delivery subscriptions is no longer reported.[6]
The Ledger also publishes "Polk Life" magazine.
References
- ^ Halifax Media purchases 16 newspapers
- ^ New Media Announces Agreement to Acquire Halifax Media Group for $280.0 Million
- ^ Ceballos, John (2014-01-21). "New Publisher Named for The Ledger". TheLedger.com. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
- ^ Devore, Lenore (2016-10-12). "Ledger Media Group Publisher Kevin Drake leaving Polk County, returning to his roots". TheLedger.com.
- ^ Devore, Lenore (2017-01-25). "Brian Burns named new publisher of the Ledger Media Group". TheLedger.com.
- ^ Auditmedia.com Archived January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Official website
- Today's The Ledger front page at the Freedom Forum website
- The Ledger on Facebook