The Salt Lake Tribune
 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | MediaNews Group |
| Editor | Nancy Conway |
| Founded | 1871 (as the Mormon Tribune) |
| Headquarters | 90 South 400 West Suite 700 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101  United States |
| Circulation | 128,186 Daily 149,320 Sunday |
| ISSN | 0746-3502 |
| Website | sltrib.com |
The Salt Lake Tribune is the largest-circulated daily newspaper in the U.S. city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune is distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation, which also distributes the Deseret Morning News. The Tribune — or "Trib," as it is locally known — is currently owned by the Denver-based Media News Group. For almost 100 years it was a family owned newspaper held by the heirs of U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns. After Thomas Kearns died in 1918 the company was controlled by his widow, Jennie Judge Kearns and son Thomas F. Kearns. The newspaper's long time publisher was John F. Fitzpatrick who started his career as Senator Kearns' secretary.
History
The publication was founded in 1871 as the Mormon Tribune by a group of Mormon businessmen who disagreed with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' (LDS Church) economic and political positions. After a year its name was changed to the Salt Lake Daily Tribune and Utah Mining Gazette. Not too long after that, the name was shortened to simply The Salt Lake Tribune.
After being purchased by three "border ruffians" [dubious – discuss] from Kansas in 1873, the paper became known as an anti-Mormon organ which consistently backed the local Liberal Party. Sometimes vitriolic, the Tribune held particular antipathy for Latter-day Saints President Brigham Young. In the edition announcing Young's death, the Tribune wrote,
- He was illiterate and he has made frequent boast that he never saw the inside of a school house. His habit of mind was singularly illogical and his public addresses the greatest farrago of nonsense that ever was put in print. He prided himself on being a great financer, and yet all of his commercial speculations have been conspicuous failures. He was blarophant, and pretended to be in daily intercourse with the Almighty, and yet he was groveling in his ideas, and the system of religion he formulated was well nigh Satanic. — The Salt Lake Tribune, August 30, 1877
In 1901 newly-elected Roman Catholic U.S. senator Thomas Kearns and his business partner David Keith, bought the Tribune. Kearns made strides to eliminate the paper's anti-Mormon overtones, and succeeded in maintaining good relationships with the mostly-LDS state legislature which had elected him to the Senate. Upon Kearns' death in 1918 his family bought out the Keith's share of the publication. The Kearns family owned a majority share of the newspaper until 1997 when they sold it to Tele-Communications Inc., a multimedia corporation, which was later acquired by AT&T. The Tribune was subsequently sold to Denver, Colorado-based MediaNews Group which is partially owned by publisher William Dean Singleton.
In 2002 the Tribune was mired in controversy after employees sold leaked inside information related to the Elizabeth Smart case to The National Enquirer. Tribune editor James "Jay" Shelledy resigned from his job at the paper amidst the fallout of the scandal. Tribune reporters Michael Vigh and Kevin Cantera also were removed from their positions as Tribune reporters.
In 2004, the paper decided to move out of its historic location at the downtown "Tribune" building and relocate to the Gateway Mall. Many people, including several Tribune employees, opposed the move, stating that it would harm the economy of Salt Lake's downtown. The move was completed in May 2005 and Tribune employees were told by Editor Nancy Conway, "It is just a building".
References
- "2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - The First 100 Years, A History of the Salt Lake Tribune 1871-1971, O. N. Malmquist, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah 1971