Orlando Sentinel

History

The Sentinels predecessors date to 1876, when the Orange County Reporter was first published. The Reporter became a daily newspaper in 1905, and merged with the Orlando Evening Star in 1906. Another Orlando paper, the South Florida Sentinel, started publishing as a morning daily in 1913. Then known as the Morning Sentinel, it bought the Reporter-Star in 1931, when Martin Andersen came to Orlando to manage both papers. Andersen eventually bought both papers outright in 1945, selling them to the Tribune Company of Chicago in 1965.

In 1973, the two publications merged into the daily Sentinel Star. Tribune appointed Charles T. Brumback as president in 1976. Harold "Tip" Lifvendahl was named president and publisher in 1981. The newspaper was renamed the Orlando Sentinel in 1982. John Puerner succeeded Lifvendahl in 1993, who was replaced by Kathleen M. Waltz in 2000. In that same year the sentinel gained seven sister newspapers as Tribune Co. announces its merger with Times Mirror, adding the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and three others to the Tribune Publishing operation. Waltz announced her resignation in February 2008. Howard Greenberg, already publisher of fellow Tribune newspaper the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, was named publisher of both papers after Waltz left.

In 2008, the Tribune Company called for a redesign of the Sentinel. The new layout, which debuted in June 2008, was formatted to appeal to busy readers, though like all of the redesigns in Tribune's Sam Zell ownership era, was reeled back into a more traditional design with appealing elements kept after reader criticism.

In 2018, the Orlando Sentinel and its corporate siblings began blocking access to Internet users in the European Union because their websites lacked compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation act.

According to one listing, some of the Sentinels predecessors are:

• Orlando Reporter: 1892–1903? (merged with Evening Star to form Evening Reporter-Star)
• Evening Star: January–December 1903? (merged with Orlando Reporter to form Evening Reporter-Star)
• Evening Reporter-Star: 1904?–March 1947 (continues Orlando Reporter and Evening Star; continued by Orlando Evening Star)
• Orlando Evening Star: April 1947 – 1973 (continues Evening Reporter-Star; merged with Orlando Morning Sentinel to form the Orlando Sentinel-Star)
• Orlando Morning Sentinel: 1913–1973 (title varies: Daily Sentinel; Morning Sentinel; merged with Orlando Evening Star to form the Orlando Sentinel-Star)
• Orlando Sentinel-Star: 1974–April 25, 1982 (continues Orlando Morning Sentinel and Orlando Evening Star; continued by Orlando Sentinel)
• Orlando Sentinel: April 26, 1982–present (continues Orlando Sentinel-Star)

Editorial history

Editorially, the Sentinel originally tilted conservative. From 1952 to 2004, it endorsed Republicans in every election save for Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

However, while many of Central Florida's surrounding communities remained ostensibly conservative, demographic and political shifts in the late 1990s/early 2000 in the central Orlando urban core and in its immediately adjacent areas became increasingly liberal and/or progressive majority in their makeup. Following that trend, the paper has endorsed Democratic candidates for president in four of the last five presidential elections: John Kerry in 2004, Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020.

In June 2019, the day of President Donald Trump's re-election campaign launch rally in Orlando, the Sentinel made national news when the editorial board published a piece saying it would not endorse the president, among their reasons, "the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies." It ultimately endorsed Biden, saying that he was "many things that Trump is not now and never will be."

Awards

• 1982: Gerald Loeb Award Honorable Mention for Small Newspapers for "The Federal Impact Series"
• 1988: Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, Jane Healy, "for her series of editorials protesting overdevelopment of Florida's Orange County."
• 1993: Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, Jeff Brazil and Steve Berry, "for exposing the unjust seizure of millions of dollars from motorists—most of them minorities—by a sheriff's drug squad."
• 2000: Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, John C. Bersia, "for his passionate editorial campaign attacking predatory lending practices in the state, which prompted changes in local lending regulations."

Notable staff

• Michael A. Bianchi: sports columnist
• Jane Healy, first Sentinel journalist to receive a Pulitzer Prize
• Jemele Hill, ESPN sportscaster and columnist
• Scott Maxwell, Opinion columnist, was featured as a question on Jeopardy! and is normally listed on the list of Orlando Magazine's Most Powerful People

References

References

1. (2016). "2016 Annual Report". Tronc, Inc..
2. Lyons, David. (7 November 2020). "Paul Pham named general manager at Orlando Sentinel".
3. (May 26, 2021). "Chicago Tribune staff gets buyout offers as Alden takes over".
4. (May 21, 2021). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". NPR.
5. (April 19, 2021). "Tribune Publishing ends discussions with Maryland hotel executive, moving forward with hedge fund Alden's bid for newspaper chain". Chicago Tribune.
6. (February 16, 2021). "Hedge Fund Reaches a Deal to Buy Tribune Publishing". [[The New York Times]].
7. (May 21, 2021). "'Sad, sobering day' for Chicago Tribune as Alden wins takeover bid".
8. "We are currently unavailable from your region". Orlando Sentinel.
9. (January 2001). "History of the Orlando Sentinel".
10. Rene Stutzman. (July 30, 1993). "Lifvendahl To Tribune Senior Vp". Orlando Sentinel.
11. Rene Stutzman. (October 4, 1993). "New Era At Sentinel". Orlando Sentinel.
12. Suzanne White. (May 27, 2000). "Waltz Moving To Orlando Sentinel". [[Daily Press (Virginia).
13. (January 2004). "The History Of the ORLANDO SENTINEL". [[The Orlando Sentinel]].
14. Christopher Boyd. (February 15, 2008). "Orlando Sentinel's publisher resigns". Orlando Sentinel.
15. (June 23, 2008). "Tribune's Redesign Kicks Off With Orlando Sentinel".
16. "Blogs - World News Publishing Focus by WAN-IFRA".
17. (25 May 2018). "LA Times among US-based news sites blocking EU users due to GDPR". The Guardian.
18. (4 June 2020). "How the Internet Is Being Restricted & Handicapped Based on Geographic Data". Medium.
19. (16 July 2021). "It's been three years. Stop saying your European visitors are important to you".
20. See [http://library.ucf.edu/GovDocs/flanews.asp Florida Newspapers] {{Webarchive. link. (2006-01-30 —a list of Florida newspapers for which indexes or full-text are available at the [[University of Central Florida]] Library.)
21. Bennett, Dashiell. (2012-10-19). "Orlando Sentinel Backs Romney After Endorsing Obama in 2008".
22. (2016-03-06). "Orlando Sentinel endorses Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton for nominations".
23. (August 28, 2020). "Joe Biden for president, because he can get us out of Trump's mess". Orlando Sentinel.
24. Forgey, Quint. (18 June 2019). "Orlando Sentinel announces 2020 endorsement: Not Trump".
25. "Orlando Sentinel newspaper makes 'not Trump' anti-endorsement".
26. Klar, Rebecca. (2019-06-18). "Orlando Sentinel declines to endorse Trump in 2020".
27. Hopkins, Anna. (2019-06-18). "Orlando Sentinel issues scathing op-ed announcing it won't endorse Donald Trump in 2020 election".
28. (April 2013). "Loeb Award winners 1958–1996".
29. "Historical Winners List".
30. "Tribune Biography: Mike Bianchi".
31. Gunter, Debbie. (October 28, 2015). "The CP Interview with Scott Maxwell".
32. (2013-06-26). "50 Most Powerful People in Orlando".