The Plain Dealer#cleveland.com

File:Cleveland Plain Dealer 8-07-1945.jpg, Japan]]

The newspaper was established in January 1842 when two brothers, Joseph William Gray and Admiral Nelson Gray, took over The Cleveland Advertiser and changed its name to The Plain Dealer. The Cleveland Advertiser had been published from 1831 to 1841.{{cite web |title=CLEVELAND ADVERTISER |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-advertiser |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History - Case Western Reserve University |access-date=12 May 2020 |language=en |date=11 May 2018}} Some sources attribute the current spelling of the city name to The Cleveland Advertiser{{'}}s dropping the first "a" from the name of the city's founder, Moses Cleaveland, so the newspaper's name would fit on the masthead but others dispute that story.{{cite web |title=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cleveland,_Ohio |website=Ohio History Central |access-date=12 May 2020}}{{cite news |title=30 Myths That Define Cleveland: The 'A' in Cleaveland |url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/articles/cle-myths-the-a-in-cleaveland |access-date=12 May 2020 |work=Cleveland Magazine |issue=December 2019 |language=en}}

When the Gray brothers began publishing their newspaper in 1842, they wrote an explanation of their choice of name; after a discussion of several other possible names, they wrote, "but our democracy and modesty suggest the only name that befits the occasion, the PLAIN DEALER."{{cite journal |last=Mcvicker |first=Mary Frech |title=Courants, Messengers, And A Plain Dealer: How your paper got its name |journal=American Heritage |date=October 1994 |volume=45 |issue=6 |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/courants-messengers-and-plain-dealer#1 |access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History" PLAIN DEALER |date=November 18, 2019 |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/plain-dealer | publisher=Case Western Reserve University}} The phrase means "someone who interacts or does business straightforwardly and honestly".{{cite web |title=Plain-dealer dictionary definition {{!}} plain-dealer defined |url=https://www.yourdictionary.com/plain-dealer |website=yourdictionary.com |access-date=22 April 2020}} Their choice of name was probably inspired by The Plaindealer, a weekly paper described as Jacksonian or radical, published in New York City by William Leggett from 1836 to either 1837 or 1839.{{cite news |title=Telling Cleveland's story for 175 years: The Plain Dealer |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2017/01/telling_clevelands_story_for_1.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland |date=9 January 2017 |language=en}}{{cite book |last=Bryant |first=William Cullen |title=The Letters of William Cullen Bryant: 1836–1849 |date=1975 |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8232-0992-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lettersofwilliam03will/page/n76 63] |url=https://archive.org/details/lettersofwilliam03will |url-access=registration |language=en}}{{cite book |last=Leggett |first=William |title=Plaindealer: Equal Rights |date=1836 |publisher=proprietors. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-o9PHS7XpMC&q=1836+plain+dealer+new+york&pg=PA16 |language=en}} Several other newspapers in California,(The Orange County Plain Dealer, founded by an Ohioan and published 1898–1925.) {{cite web |last=Jepsen |first=Chris |title=The Orange County Plain Dealer |url=https://ochistorical.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-orange-county-plain-dealer.html |website=O.C. History Roundup |access-date=14 March 2021 |date=17 September 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Schultz |first1=Jason |last2=Mabe |first2=Jon |last3=Maya |first3=Chris |title=Orange County Plain Dealer |url=http://www.yoreanaheim.com/publication/oc-plain-dealer_3/years |website=Yore Anaheim |access-date=31 May 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Schultz |first1=Jason |last2=Mabe |first2=Jon |last3=Maya |first3=Chris |title=About |url=http://www.yoreanaheim.com/about |website=Yore Anaheim |access-date=31 May 2022}} Colorado,(The Ouray County Plaindealer, published since 1877 under a variety of names, and those names included "Plaindealer" during 1888–1939 and again since 1969.) {{cite news |title=New owners of Plaindealer passionate about community journalism |url=https://www.ouraynews.com/articles/2019/04/04/new-owners-plaindealer-passionate-about-community-journalism |access-date=14 March 2021 |work=Ouray County Plaindealer |date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} Indiana,{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.wabashplaindealer.com/site/about.html |website=Wabash Plain Dealer |date=September 23, 2023 |language=en}} Iowa,{{cite web |title=Weekly New Oregon Plain Dealer (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1866–1867 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87058043/ |website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite web |title=The Iowa Plain Dealer (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867–1895 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2018218985/ |website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite web |title=Cresco Plain Dealer (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913–1945 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87058075/ |website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 April 2020}} Montana,{{cite web |title=The Montana Plaindealer (Helena, Montana) 1906–1911 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2013218808/ |website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 April 2020}} Oregon,(The Plaindealer, of Roseburg, Oregon, published 1870–1905.) {{cite web |title=Roseburg, Plaindealer |url=https://odnp.uoregon.edu/roseburg-plaindealer/ |website={{!}} Oregon Digital Newspaper Program}} Wisconsin,(The Waukesha Plain Dealer, published 1854–1857.) {{cite web |title=Waukesha Plain Dealer (Waukesha, Wis.) 1854–1857 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85040734/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=14 March 2021}}(The Waukesha Plaindealer, published 1865–1876.) {{cite web |title=Waukesha plaindealer. |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033290/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=14 March 2021}} Manitoba,{{cite web |title=About us |url=https://www.sourisplaindealer.ca/about-us |website=Souris Plaindealer |access-date=9 May 2020}} and South Australia{{cite web |title=Plain dealer |url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=6882 |website=SA Memory, South Australia State Library |access-date=1 December 2020 |language=en-au}} later adopted versions of the same name in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At least three continue: Indiana Plain Dealer, a 2024 combination of newspapers including the former Wabash Plain Dealer, which had served Wabash, Indiana since 1859; the Ouray County Plaindealer of Ouray County, Colorado under names that included "Plaindealer" during 1888–1939 and since 1969; and the Cresco Times Plain Dealer of Cresco, Iowa.{{cite web |title=Times-Plain Dealer - Cresco, IA |url=https://chamberorganizer.com/crescochamber/mem_crescotimes |website=chamberorganizer.com |access-date=9 May 2020}} Winston Churchill reportedly said about the Cleveland paper, "I think that by all odds, the Plain Dealer has the best newspaper name of any in the world."{{cite journal |last=Bartimole |first=Roldo |title=A muckraker comes to Cleveland and founds Point of View |url=https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/plain-dealing/chapter/roldo-bartimole-cleveland-newspapers-1965/ |website=Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories |publisher=MSL Academic Endeavors |language=en |date=31 July 2018}} Although its first edition in 1842 was captioned simply "The Plain Dealer", the name on the newspaper's masthead included "Cleveland" for much of its history, and dropped the city name sometime between 1965 and 1970.{{cite news |last=Bartimole |first=Roldo |title=ROLDO: Cleveland's Decline From the 1960s |url=https://coolcleveland.com/2011/04/roldo-clevelands-decline-from-the-1960s/ |website=CoolCleveland |access-date=22 April 2020 |issue=April 2011}}{{cite news |last=Scott |first=Michael |title=Kent State: Coming of age 40 years after May 4, 1970 shootings that stunned America [with photo of May 5, 1970 front page] |url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/kent_state_coming_of_age_40_ye.html |work=cleveland.com |date=4 May 2020 |access-date=12 May 2020 |language=en}}

Joseph William Gray owned (initially with his brother) and edited the newspaper from 1842 until his death in 1862. A series of editors controlled the paper between then and 1885, when real estate investor Liberty Emery Holden purchased it.{{cite web |title=Cleveland Plain Dealer |url=https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/315 |website=Cleveland Historical |access-date=22 April 2020 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=HOLDEN, LIBERTY EMERY |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/h/holden-liberty-emery |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History {{!}} Case Western Reserve University |access-date=22 April 2020 |language=en |date=11 May 2018}} When Holden died in 1913, ownership of the Plain Dealer was placed in trust for his heirs.

{{anchor|United Broadcasting Company (Cleveland)}}

WHK (AM) and WJAY were purchased by United Broadcasting Company in 1934 and 1936, respectively. United Broadcasting company was owned by the Forest City Publishing Company, which in turn owned The Plain Dealer.{{cite web |title=Warren Cox and his Cox Manufacturing Company |url=https://fadedsignals.com/post/67518354911/warren-cox-and-his-cox-manufacturing-company |website=FADED SIGNALS |access-date=4 November 2023 |date=19 November 2013}}

Until 1967, the paper's publishing company, The Plain Dealer Publishing Company, was part of the Forest City Publishing Company, which also published the Cleveland News until its closing in 1960.{{Rp|10}} One of Holden's heirs, Holden's great-grandson Thomas Vail, became the paper's editor and publisher in 1963. On March 1, 1967, the Holden trustees, including Vail, sold the Plain Dealer to Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr.'s newspaper chain for $54.2 million, then the highest price ever paid for a U.S. newspaper.{{Cite book |url=http://clevelandmemory.org/speccoll/porter/|title=Cleveland: Confused City on a Seesaw|last=Porter|first=Philip W.|publisher=Cleveland Memory, Cleveland State University|year=1999|type=eBook, enhanced relative to 1976 print edition}}{{Rp|234}}{{cite news |last1=Benton |first1=Joshua |last2=Tameez |first2=Hanaa’ |title=Cleveland is where the American newspaper union was born, and it's the latest place where it's been beaten |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/05/cleveland-is-where-the-american-newspaper-union-was-born-and-its-the-latest-place-where-its-been-beaten/ |access-date=4 December 2020 |work=Nieman Lab |date=13 May 2020}} Advance Publications Inc., a New York-based media company owned by Newhouse's heirs, continues to own the Plain Dealer.{{Cite web|url=https://archives.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=advance|title=Advance Publications|date=February 13, 2013|website=Who Owns What|publisher=Columbia Journalism Review|access-date=6 Dec 2019}}

The Plain Dealer has been the sole major newspaper for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio since its two main 20th-century competitors, the Cleveland News and The Cleveland Press, closed in 1960 and 1982 respectively. However, since 2015, a number of nonprofit news outlets have begun reporting including the Cleveland Observer, Cleveland Documenters, The Land, and Signal Cleveland.{{Cite web |title=Documenters.org: Making Local Government More Accountable |url=https://cleveland.documenters.org/ |access-date=4 April 2024 |website= |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=About Us – CleObserver |url=https://cleobserver.com/about-us-2/ |access-date=4 April 2024 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=About The Land |url=https://thelandcle.org/about-us/ |access-date=4 April 2024 |website=The Land |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=http://signalcleveland.org/about/ |access-date=4 April 2024 |website=Signal Cleveland |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Local Journalism Directory |url=https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/journalism-directory |access-date=4 April 2024 |website=Media And Democracy Project |language=en}}

• 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (Connie Schultz).{{cite web| title= The Pulitzer Prizes (2005) | url= http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/| website= pulitzer.org| publisher= The Pulitzer Prizes| access-date= June 5, 2006}}{{cite web| title= It's Time To Do What Feels Right| first= Connie |last= Schultz| website= cleveland.com| date= February 16, 2006| url= http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?/base/news/1138797018226220.xml&coll=2 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070509114209/http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews%2F1138797018226220.xml&coll=2| archivedate=May 9, 2007| access-date= June 5, 2006}}{{cite web| url= https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/connie-schultz-devotes-first-post-sabbatical-column-to-her-father/|title=Connie Schultz Devotes First Post-Sabbatical Column to Her Father – Editor & Publisher|last=E&P Staff|website=|access-date= June 13, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=Cano |first=Regina Garcia |date=September 19, 2011 |title=Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz resigns from The Plain Dealer (updated) |url= https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2011/09/connie_schultz_resigned_today.html |website=Cleveland}}
• 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (Edward D. Kuekes for Aftermath)

File:Aftermath by Edward Kuekes.jpg]]

• 2008 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards ([https://www.cleveland.com/health/2006/12/coping_when_all_is_hopeless_th.html "Coping when all is hopeless"] by Diana Keough){{cite web |title=Missouri School of Journalism Announces 2008 Winners of the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards |url=https://journalism.missouri.edu/2008/08/missouri-school-of-journalism-announces-2008-winners-of-the-missouri-lifestyle-journalism-awards/ |website= journalism.missouri.edu| publisher= Missouri School of Journalism |access-date=1 December 2020 |date=19 August 2008}}
• 2006 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards (Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100103082122/https://www.cleveland.com/sundaymag/plaindealer/index.ssf?/sundaymag/more/1102112127227410.html "In Balraj's Realm"] by Karen R. Long){{cite web |title=Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards: 2006 Winners and Finalists |date=October 24, 2006 |url= https://journalism.missouri.edu/2006/10/missouri-lifestyle-journalism-awards-2006-winners-and-finalists/ |publisher=University of Missouri| website= journalism.missouri.edu |access-date=December 25, 2018}}
• 2003 Editor & Publisher Editor of the Year Award (Doug Clifton)
• 12-time Ohio News Photographer's Association Award recipient (2001–2011, 2013).{{Cite web |date=April 10, 2011 |title=Plain Dealer photo staff named best in Ohio 11th straight year |url= http://blog.cleveland.com/pdmultimedia/2011/04/plain_dealer_photo_staff_names.html |access-date=November 7, 2014 |website=The Plain Dealer}}{{cite web|last=Ewinger|first=James|title=The Plain Dealer's Gus Chan named Ohio news photographer of the year; staff named best in state |date=April 21, 2013 | website= Cleveland | publisher= |url= http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/04/plain_dealer_photo_staff_clinc.html|access-date=November 7, 2014}}
• Nine-time Ohio Associated Press General Excellence Award winner:
• 1994 (Division IV)
• 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 (Division V){{cite web |url= http://www.ap.org/states/ohio/documents/GeneralExcellenceWinners_000.pdf|title= General Excellence Winners | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20150407121925/https://www.ap.org/states/ohio/documents/GeneralExcellenceWinners_000.pdf| archivedate= 7 April 2015| url-status= dead| website= ap.org| publisher= Associated Press Society of Ohio | access-date= 30 April 2014}}{{cite web |url= http://www.ap.org/states/ohio/documents/GenExOutstandingNewsOpWinners.pdf|title= General Excellence and Outstanding News Operation Winners | website= |publisher=Associated Press| access-date=30 April 2014}}
• Two-time Ohio Associated Press First Amendment Award recipient (2001, 2004){{cite web| url= http://www.ap.org/states/ohio/documents/FirstAmendmentAwardRecipients.pdf| title= First Amendment Award Recipients | date= 2011| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172654/http://www.ap.org/states/ohio/documents/FirstAmendmentAwardRecipients.pdf | website= | publisher= Associated Press |archivedate= 23 September 2015| access-date= 30 April 2014}}
• Numerous other AP Awards in various individual and specific categories (Division V){{cite web| url= http://discover.ap.org/state-contests| title=Associated Press State Contests| website= | publisher= Associated Press| access-date= June 13, 2019}}

• Tim Warsinskey (March 1, 2020 – June 1, 2020){{cite web |title=Tim Warsinskey (bio) |url=https://www.plaindealer.com/tim-warsinskey/ |website= |access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite news |last=Rodrigue |first=George |title=A fond farewell to Cleveland, from an editor who has loved the paper and the city |url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/02/a-fond-farewell-to-cleveland-from-an-editor-who-has-loved-the-paper-and-the-city.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=14 February 2020 |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Warsinskey |first=Tim |title=cleveland.com to produce all content for The Plain Dealer, and I'm moving on – Tim Warsinskey |url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/05/clevelandcom-to-produce-all-content-for-the-plain-dealer-and-im-moving-on-tim-warsinskey.html |work= |date=12 May 2020 |language=en}}
• George Rodrigue (2015–2020){{cite news |last=Smith |first=Robert L. |title=Pulitzer winning journalist George Rodrigue named editor of The Plain Dealer |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2015/01/pulitzer_winning_texas_journal.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=6 January 2015 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=George Rodrigue (bio) |url=https://www.plaindealer.com/executive-biographies/george-rodrigue-2/ |website= |access-date=22 April 2020}}
• Debra Adams Simmons (2010–2014){{cite news |last=Plain Dealer staff |title=Debra Adams Simmons named editor; Susan Goldberg leaving Plain Dealer |url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/susan_goldberg_leaving_plain_d.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=21 October 2010 |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Feran |first=Tom |title=Plain Dealer editor Debra Adams Simmons named to new post for Advance Local newspapers and web |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2014/04/plain_dealer_editor_deborah_ad.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=4 April 2014 |language=en}}
• Susan Goldberg (2007–2010){{cite web |title=Doug Clifton (bio) |url=http://knownewengland.org/doug-clifton/ | website= knownewengland.org |publisher=New England First Amendment Coalition |access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite news |last=Strupp |first=Joe |title=Cleveland Plain Dealer's Loss of Reader Representative 'Sad, Disappointing' For Local Journalists |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/cleveland-plain-dealers-loss-reader-representative-sad-disappointing-local-journalists |work= | publisher= Media Matters for America |date=2 February 2015 |language=en |access-date=22 April 2020}}{{cite news |date=14 May 2007 |title=Plain Dealer Names New Editor |url=https://www.cleveland19.com/story/6513183/plain-dealer-names-new-editor/ |work=cleveland19.com| publisher= Gray Local Media |access-date=22 April 2020}}
• Doug Clifton (1999–2007){{cite news |last=Trickey |first=Erick |title=Doug Clifton Retires |url= https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/people/articles/doug-clifton-retires |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=clevelandmagazine.com |date=19 January 2007 |language=en}}
• David Hall (1992–1999){{cite news |title=Plain Dealer Editor Resigning |url= https://apnews.com/f0664b5a3f7fdf07b9ccdee13739d078 |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= apnews.org| publisher= Associated Press |date=25 March 1999}}
• Thomas Vail (as editor and publisher) (1963–1992){{cite news |last=Vail |first=Thomas |title=Cleveland is on a positive track: Thomas Vail |url=https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2013/12/cleveland_on_positive_track_th.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=24 December 2013 |language=en}}
• David Hopcraft (executive editor) (1978–1984){{cite web| url= https://www.cityclub.org/forums/1998/07/30/city-club-debate-newspapers | title= The City Club of Cleveland Debate: Newspapers| date= July 7, 1982| website= cityclub.org| access-date= }}{{cite book| title= Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories | year= 2018| first1= Dave| last1= Davis| first2= Joan| last2= Mazzolini| publisher= MSL Academic Endeavors| isbn= 9781936323654 }}
• Wright Bryan (1954–1963){{cite news |title=William Bryan; First Newsman to Broadcast D-Day Invasion Report |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-15-mn-996-story.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 February 1991}}
• Paul Bellamy (1933–1954){{cite web |title= Bellamy, Paul |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/b/bellamy-paul |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History |publisher=Case Western Reserve University |access-date=22 April 2020 |language=en |date=7 March 2019}}{{cite web |title=Finding aid for the Paul Bellamy Photographs |url= http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi2727.xml;query=;brand=default |website=OHIOLink.edu| publisher= |access-date=22 April 2020}}

Cleveland.com, which was launched by Advance Publications in 1997, is the sister company of The Plain Dealer. Cleveland.com has only an online presence, while The Plain Dealer provides a print newspaper only, not a digital edition. Content from each is cross-posted on the other site. Cleveland.com is described by its owners as "the premier news and information website in the state of Ohio". Though it is under the same ownership as The Plain Dealer, cleveland.com was operated by a separate company and had separate staff and offices.{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/clevelands-double-crisis--coronavirus-and-a-shrinking-number-of-reporters-to-cover-it/2020/03/13/a4ed2d7c-6545-11ea-b3fc-7841686c5c57_story.html | title=Cleveland's double crisis — coronavirus and a shrinking number of reporters to cover it | first=Margaret | last=Sullivan | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=March 15, 2020}}{{cite news | title=Staff cuts in The Plain Dealer newsroom announced as industry financial pressures grow | url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/03/staff-cuts-in-the-plain-dealer-newsroom-announced-as-industry-financial-pressures-grow.html | last=Warsinskey | first=Tim | publisher=cleveland.com | date=March 9, 2020}}{{cite web | title=About cleveland.com |url=https://www.advance-ohio.com/about-cleveland-com/ | publisher=Advance Publications}}{{cite web | title=Cleveland Plain Dealer | url=https://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/ | publisher=cleveland.com}}

The corporate structure underpinning these changes was the launch, announced in April 2013 and effective that August, of a "new, digitally focused company," also under ownership of Advance Publications, initially (in 2013) called the Northeast Ohio Media Group (NEOMG) and renamed in January 2016 as Advance Ohio.{{cite news | title=Plain Dealer announces reduced print delivery, creation of new digital company | url=https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/plain_dealer_announces_reduced.php | last=Clark | first=Anna | work=Columbia Journalism Review | date=April 4, 2013}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160126/NEWS/160129865/northeast-ohio-media-group-is-now-called-advance-ohio | title=Northeast Ohio Media Group is now called Advance Ohio | first=Jay | last=Miller | work=Crain Communications |date=January 26, 2016}}{{Cite news |url= https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2016/01/advance_ohio_is_new_name_of_company_that_runs_clevelandcom_reflects_companys_growth.html | title=Advance Ohio is new name of company that runs cleveland.com | first=Ryllie | last=Danylko | date=January 26, 2016 | publisher= | website= cleveland.com}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2016/09/what_the_heck_is_advance_ohio.html | title=What the heck is Advance Ohio? | first=Timothy P. | last=Knight | date=September 29, 2016 | publisher= | website= cleveland.com}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/01/26/neomg-tries-new-brand-on-for-size-will-become-advance-ohio | title=NEOMG Tries New Brand on for Size, Will Become "Advance Ohio" |first=Sam | last=Allard| work=Cleveland Scene | date=January 26, 2016}} (The renaming happened several weeks after a major reorganization of the newsroom that included layoffs.) The original, older parent company, Plain Dealer Publishing Company, kept responsibility for The Plain Dealer (i.e., the print edition), only, while NEOMG gained responsibility for operating cleveland.com and Sun Newspapers (also known as the Sun News suburban papers, a group of smaller, weekly, more suburban-oriented newspapers in the Greater Cleveland metro area also owned by Advance Publications). NEOMG was also made responsible for all ad sales and marketing for The Plain Dealer, Sun News, and cleveland.com. Both NEOMG (later Advance Ohio) and the Plain Dealer Publishing Company provide content to The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.

One way that contemporary observers viewed the 2013 establishment of NEOMG, in conjunction with the termination of daily home delivery and personnel cuts of the same year, was as implementation by The Plain Dealer's owner, Advance Publications, of a strategy to change its business from daily delivery of a print newspaper to online delivery of news, as Advance had done when it ended daily delivery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.{{cite news |last=Brown |first=T.C. |date=27 November 2012 |title='Resetting' The Plain Dealer |url=https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/resetting_the_plain_dealer.php?page=all |access-date=26 May 2020 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |language=en}}

Another way that the formation of NEOMG has been viewed is as a strategy to weaken, and ultimately kill, a labor union, by moving tasks from the unionized Plain Dealer staff to the non-unionized staff at cleveland.com.{{Cite news |url=https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/clevelandcom-editor-chris-quinn-and-mayor-frank-jackson-have-gotten-cozy-in-recent-years-heres-what-it-means-for-coverage-of-city-hall/Content?oid=6296826 |title=The Cozy Relationship Between cleveland.com Editor Chris Quinn and Mayor Frank Jackson, And What It Means For Coverage of City Hall |first=Vince |last=Grzegorek |work=Cleveland Scene | date=March 29, 2017}} Dividing The Plain Dealer into two separate companies—a unionized, print organization and a non-union, online organization—was dubbed a "transparent union-busting schism scheme" by Cleveland Scene an alternative weekly Cleveland newspaper.{{cite news |title=Plain Dealer Busts Union, Moves Forward With Plan to Cut 29 Local Journalism Jobs |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/12/28/plain-dealer-busts-union-moves-forward-with-plan-to-cut-29-local-journalism-jobs | last=Allard |first=Sam |work=Cleveland Scene |date=December 28, 2018}} The labor union representing Plain Dealer employees was called, from its founding in 1933 until its closure in 2020 as a result of these changes, Newspaper Guild Local 1, because it was the first local chapter of the national union now called the NewsGuild.{{cite web |title=Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1 |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-newspaper-guild-local-1 |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | publisher=Case Western Reserve University |date=May 11, 2018}}{{cite news | title=The last days of the Cleveland Plain Dealer newsroom |url=https://www.cjr.org/analysis/advance-local-one-cleveland-plain-dealer-layoffs.php |work=Columbia Journalism Review | last=Clark |first=Anna |date=May 13, 2020}}{{cite tweet | title= Statement by Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild Local 1: After more than 80 years of union membership, Plain Dealer journalists will no longer be represented by Local 1. The unit will be dissolved effective May 17. The PD newsroom will no longer exist.|user= PDNewsGuild |number= 1260267396654342145 | work=The (Ghost of) PD News Guild | date=May 12, 2020 | access-date= }} The Plain Dealer News Guild also called NEOMG's formation evidence of Advance's involvement in "union-busting", and repeated the claim in response to subsequent layoffs.

In February 2017, Advance Ohio named Chris Quinn editor and publisher.{{Cite news |url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/02/chris_quinn_named_editor_and_p.html |title=Chris Quinn named editor and president of Advance Ohio |date=February 21, 2017 |publisher= | website= cleveland.com| access-date= }} Quinn previously served as vice president of content at NEOMG{{Cite news |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2013/06/northeast_ohio_media_group_ann.html |title=Northeast Ohio Media Group announces members of its leadership team |first=Robert L.|last=Smith |date=June 25, 2013| publisher= | website= cleveland.com}} and was the metro editor at The Plain Dealer prior to that.

In 2019, cleveland.com was attracting an average of 9.9 million users monthly.

In 2006, Cleveland Magazine called cleveland.com "mediocre compared to its peers", while saying that it "has only recently started to improve".{{Cite web |url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/the-read/articles/the-new-dealer |title=The New Dealer |work=Cleveland Magazine | date=December 18, 2006}} In 2012, Cleveland Scene, the alternative weekly, said that "Advance's sites are notoriously poorly designed and borderline unnavigable" and, to demonstrate its non-local management, said that Advance wanted to give the cleveland.com site a black-and-yellow color scheme, "until someone informed them those are Steelers colors".{{cite news |title=Can The Plain Dealer Be Saved? |url=https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/can-the-plain-dealer-be-saved/Content?oid=3106923&showFullText=true |last=Grzegorek |first= Vince |work=Cleveland Scene |date=December 5, 2012}}

Since the late 20th century, like other media business organizations, the newspaper has faced reductions in circulation and revenue; it has undergone restructuring and layoffs.

The paper's circulation declined from the 1980s through about the first decade of the twenty-first century, then dropped precipitously in the following decade or so; the following figures (using circulation numbers derived from the same source, though made public only in other sources and in a patchwork fashion) show that in the 24 years between 1983 and 2007 the paper's circulation dropped by 33% (daily) and 11% (Sunday), while in the next 12 years between 2007 and 2019, it lost a further 79% and 62% of its daily and Sunday circulation.

On December 18, 2005, The Plain Dealer ceased publication of its weekly Sunday Magazine, which had been published since 1919. Its demise was attributed to rising expenses and the poor economy. The editor of The Plain Dealer, Doug Clifton, said that stories that would formerly have appeared in the Sunday Magazine would be integrated into other areas of the paper.{{cite news |title='Plain Dealer' Kills Off Sunday Magazine |url=https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/plain-dealer-kills-off-sunday-magazine/ |access-date=25 May 2020 |work=Editor & Publisher Magazine |date=9 November 2005}}{{cite news |last=Romenesko |first=Jim |title=Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine ends run Dec. 18 |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2005/cleveland-plain-dealer-sunday-magazine-ends-run-dec-18/ |access-date=25 May 2020 |work=Poynter |date=9 November 2005}} In June 2008, the paper announced that it would cut four sections and an average of 32 pages per week.{{cite news |last=Strupp |first=Joe |title='Plain Dealer' Cuts 32 Pages Per Week, Drops Four Sections |url=https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/plain-dealer-cuts-32-pages-per-week-drops-four-sections/ |access-date=25 May 2020 |work=Editor & Publisher |date=30 June 2008}}

In August 2013, The Plain Dealer reduced home delivery from seven days a week to four: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.{{cite news|title=Dear Readers: Information about The Plain Dealer's delivery schedule|url=http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/dear_readers_information_about.html|access-date=May 27, 2013|newspaper=The Plain Dealer|date=May 22, 2013}} It continued to publish an edition seven days a week that is available in electronic form at cleveland.com, and in print at stores, newsracks and newsstands.{{cite press release|url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2013/04/northeast_ohio_media_group_to.html|title=Northeast Ohio Media Group to launch in summer: Press Release|author=Plain Dealer Staff|date=April 4, 2013|website=cleveland.com|access-date=6 Dec 2019|publisher=Advance Local}} Subscribers to the four print editions have access to the digital edition seven days a week. (Plans announced in April 2013 had called for a reduction to three days of delivery by August 2013, but Saturday delivery was retained after complaints from auto dealers, a major category of Saturday advertiser.){{cite news |last=Miller|first=Jay|title=Plain Dealer shares details of reduced home delivery schedule |url=https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20130522/FREE/130529921/plain-dealer-shares-details-of-reduced-home-delivery-schedule |access-date=4 May 2021 |work=Crain's Cleveland Business |date=22 May 2013 |language=en}}

The Plain Dealer formerly operated a variety of news bureaus. By the middle of 2014, both the state capital bureau in Columbus and the Washington bureau were shifted to the Northeast Ohio Media Group, as shown by the affiliations of their bureau chiefs.{{cite web|title=Profile page, Washington bureau chief Stephen Koff|url=http://connect.cleveland.com/staff/skoff/posts.html|access-date=November 7, 2014}}{{cite web|title=Profile page, Columbus bureau chief Robert Higgs|url=http://connect.cleveland.com/staff/RHiggs/posts.html|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

In the early 2000s, The Plain Dealer employed almost 350 reporters and editors;{{cite news |last=Allard |first=Sam |title=Plain Dealer Editor Tim Warsinskey is a Liar and Advance Publications Doesn't Give a Shit About Cleveland |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/04/09/plain-dealer-editor-tim-warsinskey-is-a-liar-and-advance-publications-doesnt-give-a-shit-about-cleveland |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=9 April 2020 |language=en}} by 2020 that number was zero. The elimination of its entire staff took the form of a series of cuts between 2006 and 2020, described below.

Between October and November 2006, about 64 employees, or one-sixth of those in the newsroom, accepted a buyout offer to leave the newspaper, reducing the newsroom staff from 372 to 308. In December 2008, the paper reduced its newsroom staff by 50 persons, or 20%; 27 accepted a buyout offer and then 23 more were fired.{{cite news |title=Plain Dealt |url=https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/plain-dealt/Content?oid=1534472 |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=17 December 2008 |language=en}}

In 2009, employees agreed to accept a 12% pay cut in exchange for a two-year no-layoff agreement.{{cite news |last=Grzegorek |first=Vince |title=Plain Dealer Union Not Thrilled With Management's Latest Proposal to Extend Wage Cut |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/10/12/plain-dealer-union-not-thrilled-with-managements-latest-proposal-to-extend-wage-cut |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=12 October 2011 |language=en}}

In December 2012, members of the Newspaper Guild reported that The Plain Dealer management had told them that, after the January 2013 expiration of a no-layoff provision in the union's contract, it planned to eliminate about one-third of the newspaper's staff and cut 58 of 168 union positions.{{cite news |last=Moos |first=Julie |title=Cleveland Plain Dealer tells Guild it plans to cut about one-third of newsroom staff |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2012/cleveland-plain-dealer-tells-guild-it-plans-to-cut-about-one-third-of-newsroom-staff/ |access-date=26 May 2020 |work=Poynter |date=4 December 2012}}

Later in December 2012, the guild endorsed an agreement with Plain Dealer management accepting the expected layoffs of 58 journalists starting in May 2013, but restoring some of the pay cut union members had accepted in 2009, setting a severance package, and minimizing future layoffs through 2019 (to "just one more modest downsizing").{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Robert L. |title=Newspaper Guild endorses labor agreement with The Plain Dealer |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2012/12/the_plain_dealer_and_its_news.html |access-date=26 May 2020 |work= |date=12 December 2012 |language=en}} The agreement also allowed work to "flow freely" between The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com, in particular changing the rules to allow work of non-union staff of cleveland.com to be published in The Plain Dealer. Following the agreement about two dozen newsroom employees departed voluntarily.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Robert L. |title=The Plain Dealer executes newsroom layoffs as era of daily delivery nears end |url=https://www.cleveland.com/business/2013/07/plain_dealer_executes_newsroom.html |access-date=26 May 2020 |work= |date=1 August 2013 |language=en}}

On the morning of Wednesday, July 31, 2013, after having been told in April that layoffs expected for May were "on hold" until the summer, nearly one third of the newsroom staff was eliminated through layoffs and voluntary resignations. The 2013 round of layoffs led to accusations by the Guild that management had misled the union by cutting more employees than had been agreed upon in the 2012 agreement, specifically by reneging on a promise to keep at least 110 union jobs in the newsroom.

This concern was heightened when, within 24 hours after the layoffs, NEOMG hired away from The Plain Dealer thirteen of those who were not laid off, leaving 97 employees in the newsroom.{{cite news |last=Starkman |first=Dean |title=Advance's forced march backwards |url=https://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/advances_forced_march_backward.php?page=all |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |date=31 July 2013 |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Clark |first=Anna |title=Grief and grievances at The Plain Dealer |url=https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/newspaper_guild_files_nlrb_charge_against_plain_dealer.php |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |date=13 February 2014 |language=en}} The union filed a complaint with the NLRB which it settled in August 2014.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Jay |title=Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild, Plain Dealer settle dispute |work=Crain's Cleveland Business |date=31 August 2014}}

The Plain Dealer announced plans to lay off a third of its remaining unionized staff in December 2018 as part of a transition to a "centralized production system".{{Cite web|url=https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/northeast-ohio/plain-dealer-to-switch-to-centralized-production-system-cut-29-jobs/95-55f75240-b984-4435-bd30-cf73c71e8ace|title=Plain Dealer to switch to 'centralized production system,' cut 29 jobs|website=WKYC|date=December 27, 2018 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ideastream.org/news/plain-dealer-plans-to-lay-off-a-third-of-unionized-news-staff|title=Plain Dealer Plans To Lay Off A Third of Unionized News Staff|date=December 27, 2018|website=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/cleveland-plain-dealer-switching-to-centralized-production-cutting-29-jobs-in-the-process|title=Cleveland Plain Dealer cutting 29 jobs|date=December 27, 2018|website=WEWS}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/04/plain-dealer-lays-off-a-third-of-unionized-newsroom-staff.html|title=Plain Dealer lays off a third of unionized newsroom staff|first=Tom|last=Feran|date=April 1, 2019|website=}}

In March 2019, the paper laid off twelve (or fourteen) editors and reporters, and also outsourced its production, dropping another 24 jobs.{{cite news |last=Rodrigue |first=George |title=A painful adjustment at The Plain Dealer, and a few thoughts about our future |url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/a-painful-adjustment-at-the-plain-dealer-and-a-few-thoughts-about-our-future.html |access-date=22 April 2020 |work= |date=15 March 2019 |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Allard |first=Sam |title=Plain Dealer Editor Announces 12 Reporters and Editors Will Lose Jobs, Decimating Print Newsroom |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2019/03/15/plain-dealer-editor-announces-12-reporters-and-editors-will-lose-jobs-decimating-print-newsroom |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=15 March 2019 |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/plain-dealer-announces-new-round-of-newsroom-layoffs.html|title=Plain Dealer announces new round of newsroom layoffs|author=Plain Dealer staff|date=March 15, 2019|website=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/14-journalists-expected-to-be-laid-off-from-the-plain-dealer|title=14 journalists expected to be laid off from The Plain Dealer|date=April 1, 2019|website=WEWS}} Eight veteran reporters volunteered to take buyouts to spare others losing their jobs. Cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn blamed the parent organization's falling revenue on the print side of the operation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20180420/news/158956/cleveland-akron-media-shakeups-bring-job-cuts|title=Regional media shakeups bring job cuts|date=April 22, 2018|website=Crain's Cleveland Business}} "It's just the falling circulation numbers in print, they continue to hamper us", Quinn said.{{Cite web|url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/04/20/a-handful-of-veteran-reporters-took-the-voluntary-buyouts-offered-by-clevelandcom-plain-dealer|title=A Handful of Veteran Reporters Took the Voluntary Buyouts Offered by cleveland.com/Plain Dealer|first=Vince|last=Grzegorek|website=Cleveland Scene}} "So we'll—you hate to see them go, they're veteran people, it's a lot of experience. Nothing matters more. But if it fits for where they are in their lives, and we can save some money, we're going for it." Rachel Dissell, a vice president of the News Guild, addressed Quinn's remarks, saying "we are baffled how print circulation can be blamed for buyouts at a digital company that we've been told again and again over five years is a separate entity from the Plain Dealer."

On March 3, 2020, The Plain Dealer announced that 22 more journalists would be laid off.{{cite news |last=Warsinskey |first=Tim |date=3 April 2020 |title=Plain Dealer layoffs take place amid newspaper industry challenges |url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2020/04/plain-dealer-layoffs-take-place-amid-newspaper-industry-challenges.html |work= |language=en}} Their departures were delayed by two weeks, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to what was described as "a farewell blitz of vital reporting" on that topic by the soon-to-depart staff.{{cite news |last=Allard |first=Sam |title=22 Plain Dealer Newsroom Staffers Laid off in Advance Union Purge |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/04/03/22-plain-dealer-newsroom-staffers-laid-off-in-advance-union-purge |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=3 April 2020 |language=en}} On April 6, 2020, the Plain Dealer's editor announced that ten of its fourteen remaining reporters would be assigned to cover Ohio counties outside of Cleveland, rather than Cuyahoga County.{{cite news |last=Hlavaty |first=Kaylyn |title=Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper staff told they can no longer cover Cleveland |url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-cuyahoga/cleveland-plain-dealer-newspaper-staff-told-they-can-no-longer-cover-cleveland |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=WEWS |date=7 April 2020 |language=en}} The ten reporters asked to be laid off instead, and on April 10, 2020, they were.{{cite news |last=Grzegorek |first=Vince |title=After Being Given "Opportunity" to Cover Cleveland's Outlying Counties, 10 of Remaining 14 Plain Dealer Reporters Have Walked Instead |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/04/10/after-being-given-opportunity-to-cover-clevelands-outlying-counties-10-of-remaining-14-plain-dealer-reporters-have-walked-instead |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=10 April 2020 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Plain Dealer Reduced to 4 Union Journalists Who Don't Cover City of Cleveland |url=https://businessjournaldaily.com/plain-dealer-reduced-to-4-union-journalists-but-not-covering-cleveland/ |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Business Journal Daily |date=11 April 2020}} This left the Plain Dealer with a staff of four union journalists: investigative journalist John Caniglia, travel editor Susan Glaser, art critic Steven Litt, and sports columnist Terry Pluto.{{cite news |last=Allard |first=Sam |title=Plain Dealer Put Out to Pasture. In Final Death Blow, Remaining Reporters Given Impossible Choice |url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/04/07/plain-dealer-put-out-to-pasture-in-final-death-blow-remaining-reporters-given-impossible-choice |access-date=22 April 2020 |work=Cleveland Scene |date=7 April 2020 |language=en}}

On May 12, 2020, it was announced that the final four union journalists would be laid off and offered positions in the non-union cleveland.com newsroom. Under an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild, the guild would be barred from participating in union organizing activities in the cleveland.com newsroom for one year.{{cite news |last=Scofield |first=Drew |title=Union busted: Plain Dealer to lay off last four union journalists, will offer them non-union jobs |url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/union-busted-plain-dealer-to-lay-off-last-four-union-journalists-will-offer-them-non-union-jobs |access-date=13 May 2020 |work=News 5 Cleveland |date=13 May 2020}} The same day, after three months of serving as Plain Dealer editor and overseeing this period of layoffs, Tim Warsinskey announced that he would be starting in a new role as the senior editor for Advance Local, the parent company of cleveland.com on June 1, 2020.

These layoffs were the culmination of a drop over 20 years in membership in the United States' first News Guild (Local 1 of that union) from 340 members to zero.

In July 2010, The Plain Dealer launched PolitiFact Ohio,{{cite web|url=https://www.politifact.com/ohio/|title=Fact-checking Ohio politics - PolitiFact Ohio|website=PolitiFactOhio|access-date=June 13, 2019}} a website that analyzes political issues relevant to Ohio and the greater Cleveland area. It also conducted fact-checking and was produced in conjunction with its creator, the Tampa Bay Times. Four years later, the relationship was ended. Although the operation had generated criticism, the decision to drop it was attributed instead to a desire to keep all content on cleveland.com rather than the separate PolitiFact Ohio site, which remains available as an archive.{{cite web|title=The Plain Dealer drops PolitiFact, but keeps on factchecking|url=https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/cleveland_plain_dealer_politifact_factchecking.php?page=all|publisher=Columbia Journalism Review|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

The copy rates are $3 for daily or $5 on Sunday/Thanksgiving Day at newsstands/newsracks. The full subscription weekly price is $4.65. These prices only apply to The Plain Dealer's home delivery area, in these Northeast Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Ottawa, Portage & Summit. The Plain Dealer is available throughout the state at select newsstands including in the state capital, Columbus, and anywhere in the U.S. or world via U.S. mail service; prices are higher by mail.

In October 2014, the Northeast Ohio Media Group hosted the three Ohio candidates for governor in what would be their only joint appearance. The debate was held before the NEOMG's editorial board (which also serves as the editorial board of The Plain Dealer) and NEOMG reporters. Incumbent Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, largely ignored his main rival, Democrat Ed FitzGerald. Kasich refused to admit he could hear the questions of FitzGerald, who was sitting next to him and insisted that a reporter repeat them.{{cite web|last=Gomez|first=Henry|title=Gov. John Kasich ignores Ed FitzGerald in their only meeting of election season: 5 observations|date=October 23, 2014 |url=http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/10/gov_john_kasich_ignores_ed_fit.html|publisher=Northeast Ohio Media Group|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

During the debate, a video camera was positioned eight feet in front of the candidates. The resulting video was posted on cleveland.com. A few days later, however, it was removed.{{cite web|last=Mismas|first=Joseph|title=PD Pulls Video Of Kasich Refusing To Answer Editorial Board Questions|url=http://www.plunderbund.com/2014/10/27/pd-pulls-video-of-kasich-refusing-to-answer-editorial-board-questions/|access-date=November 7, 2014}} When other sites posted copies of the now-deleted video, the NEOMG sent letters threatening legal action. TechDirt reported that the owner of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had demanded that the unflattering video be taken down.{{cite web|last=Cushing|first=Tim|title=Cleveland Plain Dealer Owner Demands Takedown Of Unflattering Video Featuring Candidate It Endorsed In Governor's Race|date=October 30, 2014 |url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141028/16323728972/cleveland-plain-dealer-owner-demands-takedown-unflattering-video-featuring-candidate-it-endorsed-governors-race.shtml|access-date=November 7, 2014}} The NEOMG's actions were covered by other media organizations{{cite web|last=Jackson|first=Tom|title=PD silent on debate video|url=http://www.sanduskyregister.com/opinion/tom-jackson/6350031|publisher=Sandusky Register|access-date=November 7, 2014}}{{cite web|last=Castele|first=Nick|title=The Only Video of Kasich and FitzGerald Debating Isn't Online Anymore. What Happened?|date=November 3, 2014 |url=http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/the-only-video-of-kasich-and-fitzgerald-debating-isnt-online-anymore-what-h|access-date=November 7, 2014}} and it was criticized by media observers. Chris Quinn, the NEOMG vice president who sent the letters, declined all requests for comment.{{cite web|last=Rosen|first=Jay|title=Chris Quinn, vice president for content at the Northeast Ohio Media Group… What's up?|date=November 2014 |url=http://pressthink.org/2014/11/chris-quinn-vice-president-for-content-at-the-northeast-ohio-media-group-whats-up/|access-date=November 7, 2014}}{{cite web|last=Marx|first=Greg|title=News executives need to explain why video of an Ohio campaign interview disappeared|url=https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/john_kasich_video_northeast_ohio_media_group_chris_quinn.php?page=all|publisher=Columbia Journalism Review|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

At 7 a.m. on the day after the election, which Kasich who was endorsed by the NEOMG won easily, the news organization posted online an explanation of events written by its reader representative. The column cited Quinn's explanation:

Shortly after the video was posted, the Kasich campaign contacted him and said it had not been aware a video would be posted online. Quinn eventually decided that his failure to explicitly explain the presence of a video camera was unfair. Further, "I thought that if I stated my reasons, the obvious next step would be people going to the candidates and asking them if they had any objection to putting the video back up," Quinn is quoted as saying. "That would mean my error could put people into an uncomfortable situation."{{cite web|last=Diadiun|first=Ted|title=Here's why Chris Quinn took down the interview video of John Kasich, Ed FitzGerald and Anita Rios: Ted Diadiun |date=November 5, 2014 |url=http://www.cleveland.com/readers/index.ssf/2014/11/heres_why_chris_quinn_took_dow.html|publisher=Northeast Ohio Media Group|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

The explanation left some critics unsatisfied.{{cite web|last=Zimon|first=Jill Miller|title=NEOMG Finally Publishes Its Explanation, Apology For Chris Quinn's Video Removal Decision|work=Writes Like She Talks |date=November 5, 2014 |url=http://writeslikeshetalks.com/2014/11/05/neomg-finally-publishes-its-explanation-apology-for-chris-quinns-video-removal-decision/|access-date=November 7, 2014}}{{cite web|last=Allard|first=Sam|title=Finally, Poorly, the NEOMG Explains the Kasich Video Debacle and Chris Quinn's "Error in Judgement"|url=http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/11/05/finally-poorly-the-neomg-explains-the-kasich-video-debacle-and-chris-quinns-error-in-judgement|publisher=Cleveland Scene|access-date=November 7, 2014}}

As part of NEOMG's coverage of the 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2014/11/cleveland_police_officers_wait.html|title=Cleveland police officers waited minutes to give first aid to Tamir Rice|date=November 27, 2014|website=cleveland.com}} by Cleveland Police, NEOMG published a stories explaining that Rice's parents had criminal backgrounds.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2014/11/lawyer_representing_tamir_rice.html|title=Lawyer representing Tamir Rice's family defended boy's mom in drug trafficking case|date=November 25, 2014|website=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2014/11/tamir_rices_father_has_history.html|title=Tamir Rice's father has history of domestic violence|date=November 26, 2014|website=}} NEOMG Vice President of Content Chris Quinn attempted to justify reporting on the criminal backgrounds of Rice's parents in a follow-up piece,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2014/11/the_killing_of_tamir_rice_and.html|title=Our stories on Tamir Rice are the latest in the Northeast Ohio Media Group's examination of how Cleveland police use force|date=November 27, 2014|website=cleveland.com}} pointing out that Rice was playing with a toy gun that officers mistook for a real one at the time of the shooting. As a result, Quinn noted, many people asserted that the shooting was justified.

"One of the questions these people raise is why a 12-year-old was walking about in a public place, randomly aiming what looks like a real gun in various directions, to the point where a witness called 9-1-1 in fear," Quinn wrote in a piece defending his organization's reporting on the incident.

Quinn postulated, "One way to stop police from killing any more 12-year-olds might be to understand the forces that lead children to undertake behavior that could put them in the sights of police guns." Cleveland Scene, the alternative weekly, compared Quinn's explanation to "digging himself a hole the exact width and depth of a coffin"{{Cite web|url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/11/28/city-officials-could-care-less-about-neomg-lawyers-chris-quinns-ex-post-facto-rationalizing-leaves-a-sour-ass-taste|title=City Officials "Could Care Less" about NEOMG Lawyers; Chris Quinn's Ex Post Facto Rationalizing Leaves a Sour-ass Taste|first=Sam|last=Allard|website=Cleveland Scene}} in a piece asserting that the narrative regarding Rice's parents' criminal histories "is absent any context whatsoever".

NEOMG's handling of the situation was condemned on a national scale by the Huffington Post,{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tamir-rice-father_n_6227312|title=Police Gunned Down A 12-Year-Old And Somehow Local News Decided To Run This Story|first=Nick|last=Wing|date=November 26, 2014|website=Huffington Post}} as well as internally by Plain Dealer staffers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/11/27/internal-backlash-after-clevelandcoms-coverage-of-tamir-rices-fathers-criminal-record|title=Internal Backlash After Cleveland.com's Coverage of Tamir Rice's Father's Criminal Record|website=Cleveland Scene}}

In the presidential election of 1864, the paper was strongly opposed to the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. An editorial dated 5 November asked rhetorically, "Do you want four more years of war? Vote for Lincoln. Do you want the Constitution destroyed? Vote for Lincoln... Do you want the degraded Negros made your social and political equals? Vote for Lincoln."{{cite book |last=Achorn |first=Edward |title=Every Drop of Blood: Hatred and Healing at Abraham Lincoln's Second Inauguration |date=3 March 2020 |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |isbn=978-0802148742 |pages=859 |edition=Kindle }}

The Plain Dealer has been criticized in the past by liberal columnists for staking out generally conservative positions on its editorial page, despite serving a predominantly Democratic readership base. In 2004, the editorial board voted to endorse Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry; after publisher Alex Machaskee overruled it, ordering the board to write an endorsement of Republican George W. Bush, editorial page editor Brent Larkin persuaded Machaskee to withhold any endorsement.{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2004/10/27/cleveland_plain_dealer/|title=The power of a publisher|date=October 27, 2004|website=Salon}} The news coverage is generally more neutral, with national and international news often culled from wire services including The New York Times.

The paper had been criticized as being too soft in its coverage of Senator George Voinovich from Ohio. It also was criticized in the 2004 election cycle for the U.S. Senate, not providing fair coverage if any to Voinovich's opponent, State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Democrat.{{cite web|url=https://coolcleveland.com/|title=Home|website=CoolCleveland|access-date=June 13, 2019}}

In 2005, the newspaper twice published lists of concealed weapon permit holders from the five counties around Cleveland. Editor Doug Clifton defended the paper's decision, sparking a feud with a pro-carry lobbyist group. State Senator Steve Austria called it abuse of the media access privilege, saying publishing these names would threaten the safety of the men and women who obtain these permits. An Ohio gun rights group then published Clifton's home address and phone number.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohioccw.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2273|title=Ohio for Concealed Carry|website=ohioccw.org|access-date=June 13, 2019}}

{{wikinews|Newspaper refuses to utilize leaked documents in article}}

The Plain Dealer made national headlines in summer 2005, when editor Douglas Clifton announced that the newspaper was withholding two stories "of profound importance" after Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine were ordered to reveal confidential sources who had provided information on Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson's wife, being a CIA operative. Wilson was a prominent critic of the administration. The decision to compel the reporters to reveal sources was seen in the news media as a license to go after reporters and newspapers in the courtroom for not revealing confidential informants. It was considered a violation of the trust between reporter and said informants. Clifton was vilified in the news media as "having no backbone" and he admitted that people could refer to him as "chickenshit". Clifton told the national press that while he and the reporters involved in the story were willing to be jailed for not revealing sources, the legal department of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company was worried that the newspaper itself would be sued and strongly opposed the printing of the stories. "Talking isn't an option and jail is too high a price to pay", he said."WHO HAS YOUR BACK? Journalism in the Corporate Age", Columbia Journalism Review, September 2005.

The controversy ended a month later, when Cleveland Scene, the alternative weekly, published a similar story.{{Cite web|url=https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/city-for-sale/Content?oid=1491411|title=City For Sale|author=Scene staff|date=July 20, 2005|website=clevescene.com}} The Plain Dealer then printed its withheld story, a report that a federal corruption probe had targeted former Mayor Michael R. White.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland.com/pdextra/2008/09/white_was_target_of_investigat.html|title=White was target of investigation|author=Plain Dealer staff|date=July 21, 2005|website=}} Both newspapers' stories were based on leaked documents. The second withheld story has not been revealed."Keeping reporters' notes out of court," The American Editor, August 2005 – October 2005, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. Pam Luecke, Author.

On September 17, 2008, Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer's music critic of sixteen years, was told by the paper's editor, Susan Goldberg, that he would no longer be covering performances of the Cleveland Orchestra. Rosenberg had criticized its performances under its conductor Franz Welser-Möst, although his reviews of Welser-Möst as a conductor of operas had been positive. Terrance C. Z. Egger, president and publisher of the paper, was on the orchestra's board.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/arts/music/25crit.html?_r=1&ref=music&pagewanted=print|title=Music Critic vs. Maestro: One Loses His Beat|access-date=2008-09-28|last=Wakin|first=Daniel J.|date=September 25, 2008|work=The New York Times}}

Welser-Möst had been strongly criticized during his earlier tenure at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, when London critics gave him the nickname "Frankly Worse than Most".{{cite news

| first=Norman|last=Lebrecht|title=Franz Welser-Möst – The conductor they loved to hate|url=http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/040212-NL-welsermost.html|work=La Scena Musicale|date=February 12, 2004|access-date=2007-09-04}} In December 2008, Rosenberg sued Cleveland's Musical Arts Association, the newspaper and several members of their staffs, alleging a conspiracy to have him demoted.[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/goingson/2008/12/cleveland-orche-1.html "Cleveland Orchestra Scandal: Update"], The New Yorker blog, December 12, 2008 Rosenberg dropped a number of claims against the paper in 2009.{{cite news |title=Plain Dealer reporter drops all but one claim against paper |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |date=January 28, 2009 |url=http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1233135264159180.xml&coll=2 |access-date=May 17, 2010}} In August 2009, a jury rejected the remaining claims.{{cite news|last=Wakin|first=Daniel J.|title=Cleveland Critic Loses in Suit Over Job Change|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/arts/music/07critic.html|access-date=2010-12-20|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 6, 2010}}

In March 2010, The Plain Dealer reported that about eighty comments had been posted to articles on its web site by an account registered to the email address of Shirley Strickland Saffold, a judge sitting on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.{{cite news|last=McCarty|first=James F. |title=Anonymous online comments are linked to the personal e-mail account of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold|url=http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/post_258.html|access-date=January 4, 2011|newspaper=The Plain Dealer|date=March 27, 2010}} Several of the comments, posted under the pseudonym lawmiss, discussed matters that were or had been before the judge. Although the judge's 23-year-old daughter Sydney Saffold took responsibility for the postings, the paper was able to use a public records request and determine that the exact times and dates of some of the postings corresponded to the times that the corresponding articles were being viewed on the judge's court-issued computer. The revelation led one attorney, who had been criticized in the postings, to request the judge recuse herself from a homicide trial in which he represented the defendant. Ohio Supreme Court Acting Chief Justice Paul E. Pfeifer subsequently removed Saffold from the case.{{cite news|last=Farkas|first=Karen|title=Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold is removed from the Anthony Sowell murder trial|url=http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/judge_shirley_strickland_saffo_2.html|access-date=January 4, 2011|newspaper=The Plain Dealer|date=April 22, 2010}}

In April, the judge sued the paper, its editor Susan Goldberg, and affiliated companies for $50 million claiming violation of its privacy policy.{{cite news|last=Atassi|first=Leila|title=Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold files $50 million lawsuit against The Plain Dealer and others|url=http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/cuyahoga_county_judge_shirley.html|access-date=January 4, 2011|newspaper=The Plain Dealer|date=April 8, 2010}} In December 2010, Saffold dropped the suit against the newspaper, and reached settlement with Advance Internet, The Plain Dealer affiliate which runs the newspaper's website.{{cite news|title=Saffolds dismiss lawsuit against Plain Dealer, settle with Advance Internet|url=http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/saffolds_dismiss_lawsuit_again.html|access-date=January 4, 2011|newspaper=The Plain Dealer|date=December 31, 2010}} The terms of the settlement were undisclosed, but included a charitable contribution in the name of Saffold's mother.

• {{Portal inline|Journalism}}

{{Reflist}}

• Shaw, Archer H. (1942). [https://archive.org/stream/plaindealeronehu009353mbp#page/n9/mode/2up The Plain Dealer: One Hundred Years in Cleveland]. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Tidyman, John (2009). Gimme Rewrite, Sweetheart: Tales From the Last Glory Days of Cleveland Newspapers. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-59851-016-4}}

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• {{URL|http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/|The Plain Dealer on Cleveland.Com (editorial site)}}
• {{URL|http://www.plaindealer.com/|Cleveland Plain Dealer (business site)}}

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