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{{Short description|Canadian newspaper}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}

factoids

Numbers are based on the total circulation (print plus digital editions).| sister newspapers = Brandon Sun| ISSN = 0828-1785| oclc = 1607085winnipegfreepress.com}}}}The Winnipeg Free Press (or WFP; founded as the Manitoba Free Press) is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as current events in sports, business, and entertainment and various consumer-oriented features, such as homes and automobiles appear on a weekly basis.The WFP was founded in 1872, only two years after Manitoba had joined Confederation (1870), and predated Winnipeg's own incorporation (1873).WEB, Manitoba Act 1870,weblink Canadahistoryproject.ca, August 19, 2012, WEB, 1874 Winnipeg's First Council Meeting,weblink City of Winnipeg, December 28, 2019, The Winnipeg Free Press has since become the oldest newspaper in Western Canada that is still active.

Timeline

November 30, 1872: The Manitoba Free Press was launched by William Fisher Luxton and John A. Kenny.WEB, History,weblink Winnipeg Free Press, 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.WEB, Winnipeg Free Press (Manitoba Free Press),weblink Goldsborough, Gordon, 11 April 2020, Manitoba Historical Society, 19 November 2011, 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|thumb|left|200px|Historic Free Press building on Carlton)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.BAILII, Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press, Fort Frances Pulp and Paper v Manitoba Free Press, UKPC, 1923, 64, 1, Ontario, [1923] AC 695, [1923] UKPC 64, 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.jpg|thumb|right|264x264px|Former newspaper headquarters on Carlton Street)December 2001: The Free Press and its sister paper, Brandon Sun, were bought from Thomson Newspapers by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.

Strike

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.WEB, Winnipeg Free Press strike continues,weblink CBC News, December 28, 2019, October 14, 2008, The strike ended 16 days later, when the union ratified the final offer on Tuesday, October 28.WEB, Free Press strike ends,weblink Winnipeg Free Press, December 28, 2019, October 29, 2008, The contract was ratified by 67% of newspaper carriers, 75% of the pressmen, and 91% of the inside workers, including journalists.WEB, Winnipeg Free Press strike ends,weblink CBC News, December 28, 2019, 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.WEB,weblink Winnipeg Free Press, December 28, 2019, April 15, 2013, Free Press workers ratify new contract,

Circulation

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.WEB,weblink Winnipeg Free Press, Sunday Free Press is bigger, better, 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.WEB,weblink 2013 Daily Newspapers Circulation Report, Newspapers Canada, 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.WEB,weblink Daily Newspaper Circulation Data, News Media Canada, December 16, 2017, Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined), which includes paid and unpaid copies. {{#invoke:Chart | bar chart| height = 270| width = 360| group 1 = 127903:127305:117913:113251:114532:110572:106473| colors = Darkcyan| units suffix = Copies| group names = | x legends = 2009:2010:2011:2012:2013:2014:2015}}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.WEB, The Free Press Media Kit – Winnipeg Free Press,weblink Winnipeg Free Press, 29 March 2023,

Notable staff

• Charles Edwards (1928 to early-1930s): journalist and news agency executiveNEWS, Charles Edwards of Broadcast News retires, The Canadian Press, August 13, 1971, The Brandon Sun, Brandon, Manitoba, 10,weblink {{free access}}
• Vince Leah (1980 to 1993): journalist, writer, sports administrator and member of the Order of CanadaWEB,weblink Memorable Manitobans: Vincent 'Vince' Leah (1913–1993), Goldsborough, Gordon, April 27, 2021, Manitoba Historical Society, February 1, 2022, WEB,weblink Vince Leah: Journalist, 1994, Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, February 1, 2022,
• Bob Moir (1948 to 1958): television producer, sports commentator, and journalistWEB,weblink Bob Moir: Class of 1985, 1985, Canadian Football Hall of Fame, May 1, 2022,
• Hal Sigurdson (1951 to 1963, 1976 to 1996): columnist and sports editor from 1976 to 1989NEWS, A bit of an icon as a sports editor, Prest, Ashley, Campbell, Tim, January 18, 2012, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 22,weblink {{free access}}
• Maurice Smith (1927 to 1937, 1940 to 1976): columnist and sports editor from 1944 to 1976NEWS, Former FP Sports Editor, Maurice Smith, dead at 75, February 21, 1985, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 51,weblink {{free access}}
• Scott Young (1936-1940): sports writer from 1936 to 1940WEB, Scott Young, The Canadian Encyclopedia,weblink

See also

• List of newspapers in Canada

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Cook, Ramsay, The politics of John W. Dafoe and the Free Press., 1963, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 978-0-8020-5119-6,weblink registration,
• BOOK, Merrill, John Calhoun, The world's great dailies : profiles of fifty newspapers, 1980, Hastings House, New York, 978-0-8038-8095-5, 351-365,weblink registration,
• BOOK, Paterson, Edith, Tales of early Manitoba from the Winnipeg Free Press, 1970, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg,weblink

External links

• {{official website}}

{{FP Canadian Newspapers}}{{Authority control}}