winnipeg Free Press

November 30, 1872: The Manitoba Free Press was launched by William Fisher Luxton and John A. Kenny.{{cite web|title=History|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/history.html|work=Winnipeg Free Press|access-date=12 May 2020}} Luxton bought a press in New York City and, along with Kenny, rented a shack at 555 Main Street, near the present corner of Main Street and James Avenue.{{cite web|title=Winnipeg Free Press (Manitoba Free Press)|url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/business/freepress.shtml|last=Goldsborough|first=Gordon|date=11 April 2020|website=Manitoba Historical Society|orig-year=19 November 2011|access-date=12 May 2020}}

1874: The paper moved to a new building on Main Street, across from St. Mary Avenue.

1882: Control of the Free Press was passed on to Clifford Sifton. The organization subsequently moved to a building on McDermot Avenue, where it would remain until 1900.

1900: The paper moved to a new address on McDermot Avenue at Albert Street.

1901: John Wesley Dafoe served as president, editor-in-chief, and editorial writer for the WFP until 1944.

1905: The newspaper moved to a four-storey building at Portage and Garry.

File:Winnipeg Free Press Building.jpg

1913: The newspaper moved to 300 Carlton Street and would remain there for 78 years.

1920: The Free Press took its newsprint supplier before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for violating the War Measures Act during World War I. The newspaper won the case, known as Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press, as the court determined that whether the state of national emergency continued after the war was a political matter for Parliament.{{Cite BAILII|litigants=Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press|link=Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press|court=UKPC|year=1923|num=64|format=1|juris=Ontario|parallelcite=[1923] AC 695, [1923] UKPC 64|date=25 July 1923}}

December 2, 1931: The paper was renamed the Winnipeg Free Press.

1991: The Free Press moved to its current location in the Inkster Industrial Park, a {{CAD|150 million|link=yes}} plant at 1355 Mountain Avenue.File:Rear Side of Winnipeg Free Press Building.jpgDecember 2001: The Free Press and its sister paper, Brandon Sun, were bought from Thomson Newspapers by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.

In 2008, at noon on Thanksgiving Day (Monday, October 13), about 1,000 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, representing editorial, advertising, circulation, and press staff, as well as newspaper carriers, launched a strike action.{{cite web|title=Winnipeg Free Press strike continues|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-free-press-strike-continues-1.704057|work=CBC News|access-date=December 28, 2019|date=October 14, 2008}} The strike ended 16 days later, when the union ratified the final offer on Tuesday, October 28.{{cite web|title=Free Press strike ends|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/33509554.html|publisher=Winnipeg Free Press|access-date=December 28, 2019|date=October 29, 2008}} The contract was ratified by 67% of newspaper carriers, 75% of the pressmen, and 91% of the inside workers, including journalists.{{cite web|title=Winnipeg Free Press strike ends|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-free-press-strike-ends-1.727499|work=CBC News|access-date=December 28, 2019|date=October 28, 2008}} The recent five-year contract was negotiated, ratified, and signed in 2013, with no threat of a strike. Workers and managers negotiated directly with great success, without the need of a lawyer that previous contracts had required.{{cite web|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/free-press-workers-ratify-new-contract-202967461.html|work=Winnipeg Free Press|access-date=December 28, 2019|date=April 15, 2013|title=Free Press workers ratify new contract}}

As of November 1, 2009, the WFP ceased publishing a regular Sunday edition. In its place, a Sunday-only tabloid called On 7 was launched, but it has since been discontinued.

On March 27, 2011, the impending arrival of Metro in the Winnipeg market caused the Sunday newspaper to be retooled as a broadsheet format, Winnipeg Free Press SundayXtra.{{cite web|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sunday-free-press-is-bigger-better-118700704.html|work=Winnipeg Free Press|title=Sunday Free Press is bigger, better|date=March 26, 2011}} The Sunday edition is now available exclusively online.

According to figures via Canadian Newspaper Association, the Free Press' average weekday circulation for 2013 was 108,583, while on Saturdays it was 144,278.{{cite web|url=http://www.newspaperscanada.ca/sites/default/files/2013-Daily-Newspapers-Circulation-Report-FINAL.pdf|title=2013 Daily Newspapers Circulation Report|publisher=Newspapers Canada|access-date=July 16, 2014}} Because of the relatively small population of Manitoba, that meant that over 10% of the population could be receiving the paper and its advertisements. Like most Canadian daily newspapers, the Free Press has seen a decline in circulation, dropping its total by {{formatnum: {{#expr: abs(100 - (106473 / 127903 * 100)) round 0}}}}% to 106,473 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.{{cite web|url=https://nmc-mic.ca/about-newspapers/circulation/daily-newspapers/|title=Daily Newspaper Circulation Data|work=News Media Canada|access-date=December 16, 2017}} Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined), which includes paid and unpaid copies.

:::::::::Daily average

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As of 2023, the Winnipeg Free Press media kit claims that 1.15 million users visit the newspaper's network of sites each month, and that in Winnipeg, 439,000 adults read the publication in print or digital format each week.{{cite web |title=The Free Press Media Kit – Winnipeg Free Press |url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/mediakit |publisher=Winnipeg Free Press |access-date=29 March 2023}}

• Charles Edwards (1928 – early-1930s): journalist and news agency executive{{cite news|title=Charles Edwards of Broadcast News retires|agency=The Canadian Press|date=August 13, 1971|newspaper=The Brandon Sun|location=Brandon, Manitoba|page=10|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-13-1971-3227701/}}{{free access}}
• Bartley Kives (2000–2016): arts and news writer; left to join CBWT-DT as a television journalist.
• Vince Leah (1980–1993): journalist, writer, sports administrator and member of the Order of Canada{{cite web|url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/leah_v.shtml|title=Memorable Manitobans: Vincent 'Vince' Leah (1913–1993)|last=Goldsborough|first=Gordon|date=April 27, 2021|website=Manitoba Historical Society|access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.winnipegregionalrealestateboard.ca/community/citizens-hall-of-fame/inductee/25/Vince-Leah|title=Vince Leah: Journalist|year=1994|website=Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board|access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• Bob Moir (1948–1958): television producer, sports commentator, and journalist{{cite web|url=https://cfhof.ca/members/bob-moir/|title=Bob Moir: Class of 1985|year=1985|website=Canadian Football Hall of Fame|access-date=May 1, 2022}}
• Hal Sigurdson (1951–1963; 1976–1996): columnist and sports editor from 1976 to 1989{{cite news|title=A bit of an icon as a sports editor|last1=Prest|first1=Ashley|last2=Campbell|first2=Tim|agency=|date=January 18, 2012|newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|page=22|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-jan-18-2012-3048196/}}{{free access}}
• Maurice Smith (1927–1937; 1940–1976): columnist and sports editor from 1944 to 1976{{cite news|title=Former FP Sports Editor, Maurice Smith, dead at 75|date=February 21, 1985|newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|page=51|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-feb-21-1985-3028656/}}{{free access}}
• Scott Young (1936–1940): sports writer from 1936 to 1940{{cite web|title=Scott Young|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/scott-young}}

• List of newspapers in Canada

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Ramsay |title=The politics of John W. Dafoe and the Free Press. |date=1963 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-8020-5119-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofjohnwd0000cook |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=John Calhoun |title=The world's great dailies : profiles of fifty newspapers |date=1980 |publisher=Hastings House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8038-8095-5 |pages=351-365 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldsgreatdaili0000merr |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Paterson |first1=Edith |title=Tales of early Manitoba from the Winnipeg Free Press |date=1970 |publisher=Winnipeg Free Press |location=Winnipeg|url=https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/asset-management/2R3BF1OE79R_U}}

• {{official website}}

{{FP Canadian Newspapers}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Newspapers published in Winnipeg

Category:Newspapers established in 1872

Category:Daily newspapers published in Manitoba

Category:1872 establishments in Manitoba