The Cincinnati Enquirer

• 1. Founding And Early Years

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  The first issue of the Daily Cincinnati Enquirer appeared on the 10th of April 1841. It contained just four pages of dense text that looked ugly and read with a harsh tone. John Brough and Charles Brough purchased a predecessor called the Phoenix to create this new paper. The Phoenix had been edited by Moses Dawson as early as 1828 before evolving into the Commercial Advertiser. By 1838, it became known as the Cincinnati Advertiser and Journal. The new owners declared their support for the Democratic Party immediately upon launch. This stance contrasted sharply with three Whig papers and two independent publications circulating in the city at that time. A weekly digest edition for farmers began publishing on the 14th of April 1841. That weekly version continued until the 25th of November 1843 when it changed its name to The Cincinnati Weekly Enquirer. In November 1843, the paper merged with the Daily Morning Message to become the Enquirer and Message. The name dropped the word Message in January 1845. Finally, in May 1849, the publication settled on the title The Cincinnati Enquirer.

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• 2. Ownership Transitions And Trusts

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  James J. Faran took an interest in the newspaper in 1844. Washington McLean and his brother S.B. Wiley McLean acquired an interest in 1848. On the 22nd of March 1866, a gas leak caused Pike's Opera House to explode. The explosion destroyed the Enquirer offices located next door. A competitor called the Cincinnati Daily Times allowed the Enquirer to print on its presses after the disaster. Archives of the paper's first twenty-five years were lost during this event. Washington McLean was a leading Copperhead whose editorial policies led to government suppression during the Civil War. John Roll McLean assumed full ownership in 1881 after buying out his father. He owned the paper until his death in 1916. Lacking faith in his son Ned, John Roll McLean placed the Enquirer and The Washington Post in trust with the American Security and Trust Company. The trust held the Enquirer until 1952 while Ned successfully broke the trust regarding The Post. In February 1952, The Cincinnati Times-Star offered to buy the Enquirer for $7.5 million. Eight hundred forty-five employees pooled their assets to bid $7.6 million instead. The deal closed on the 6th of June 1952.

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• 3. The Chiquita Scandal And Ethics

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  On the 3rd of May 1998, the Enquirer published an eighteen-page section titled Chiquita Secrets Revealed. The series accused the Cincinnati-based fruit company of labor abuses, pollution, and bribery. Chiquita denied all allegations immediately. Michael Gallagher was charged and convicted for illegally obtaining evidence through voicemail hacking. The newspaper fired him for lying about his sources. Faced with a potential lawsuit over the voicemail hacking, the Enquirer settled with Chiquita out of court. The settlement required the paper to pay the company fourteen million dollars. Under the terms of the agreement, the paper published a three-day-long front-page retraction of the entire series. They destroyed any evidence they had gathered against Chiquita. Editor Lawrence Beaupre transferred to Gannett headquarters as part of the fallout. The paper largely reverted to its former approach to business coverage after this incident. This event marked a dramatic shift from the aggressive investigative reporting style that Harry Whipple and Lawrence Beaupre had introduced in January 1993.

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• 4. Political Endorsements Evolution

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  For much of its history, The Enquirer has been regarded as a conservative, Republican-leaning newspaper. In the 1864 presidential election, the newspaper opposed the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. On his second inauguration day, the paper wrote that Mr. Lincoln commenced a term unfettered by constitutional restraint like the Czar of Russia. From 1920 to 2012, the editorial board endorsed every Republican candidate for United States president. On the 24th of September 2016, the Enquirer endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. This was its first endorsement of a Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Then-editor Peter Bhatia described the board as pragmatic and solution-driven. He stated they did not have much use for extreme ideologies from either side. The board's mantra focused on problem-solving and improving quality of life for everyone in greater Cincinnati. This shift represented a significant departure from decades of consistent Republican support.

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• 5. Operational Changes And Format Shifts

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  On the 10th of April 2000, the Enquirer downsized from a traditional broadsheet format to a smaller size similar to Berliner. They began publishing in color every day of the week. Gannett promoted the narrower format as easier to handle and read while citing reduced newsprint costs. In January 2004, the Enquirer informed the Post of its intention to let the joint operating agreement expire. The Post published its final print edition upon expiration on the 31st of December 2007. Following the Post closure, the Enquirer made efforts to appeal to former readership by referring to the area as Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. In March 2013, Gannett closed its West End printing facility. They contracted with The Columbus Dispatch to print the Enquirer in Columbus. Shortly after, the paper began publishing in a smaller compact tabloid format. On the 5th of March 2022, the Enquirer moved to a six-day printing schedule. This change eliminated its printed Saturday edition. The newspaper's photographic archive covering years 1945 to 1995 was donated to the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library in 2023.

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• 6. Awards And Investigative Journalism

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  The Enquirer won its first Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for Jim Borgman's editorial cartoons. Under then-editor Peter Bhatia, the Enquirer became the first newsroom in the nation to dedicate a reporter to covering the heroin epidemic full time. That reporter, Terry DeMio, worked alongside Dan Horn to lead a staff of about sixty journalists. Their project Seven Days of Heroin won the newspaper its second Pulitzer Prize in 2018. Michael Gallagher received awards for his 1996 investigation into Fluor Daniel's cleanup of the uranium processing plant at Fernald Feed Materials Production Center. The paper also received the Associated Press General Excellence Award in April 2006. Earlier that year, parent Gannett Co. named The Enquirer the most improved of more than one hundred newspapers in the chain. In October 2012, the online version went behind a metered paywall allowing readers to view ten stories monthly before paying a subscription fee. The paper launched a true crime podcast called Accused in 2016 which reached the top of iTunes podcasts chart.

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