Cape Cod Times

The paper was first published by businessman J.P. Dunn and Basil Brewer on October 19, 1936 as the Cape Cod Standard-Times, and was distributed jointly on the Cape with The New Bedford Standard-Times until the end of 1970. It was first published as an independent daily for Cape Cod on January 1, 1971 and renamed the Cape Cod Times from September 2, 1975.[2]

The first issues were printed in a converted automobile dealer's garage on Elm Street in Hyannis, now a bus garage. Less than a year after the paper made its debut, plans were announced for the construction of the present building at 319 Main Street, which opened in early 1938.

As the newspapers entered the late 1960s, it became evident that the historic piggy-back distribution arrangement with the New Bedford paper had outlived its usefulness. Population and business activity on the Cape were growing at a rapid rate and research studies indicated that readers and commercial supporters would support an independent daily newspaper for Cape Cod. In 1970, the decision was made to break away and the new daily Cape Cod Standard-Times was born.

In 1975, to dispel any impression of still being an offshoot of the New Bedford paper, the Cape Cod paper was renamed the Cape Cod Times. A front-page editorial that day proclaimed:

We adopted the new name because we want it clearly known that we are an independent Cape Cod newspaper, printed and published on the Cape, by Cape Codders, for Cape Codders.

To accommodate the growth and expansion of the paper's employees and production equipment, the 319 Main Street building has been enlarged several times.

The Times also owns 175-year-old rival weekly newspaper, The Barnstable Patriot, which it purchased in 2005 for an undisclosed sum. Peter Meyer, the Times' president and publisher, said the newsrooms of the daily and 4,500-circulation weekly would remain separate. Ottaway, the Times' parent, also owns the weekly Inquirer & Mirror of Nantucket.[3]

News Corp. acquired the Times when it bought Dow Jones & Company (which itself had purchased Ottaway in 1970) for US$5 billion in late 2007. Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp., reportedly told investors before the deal that he would be "selling the local newspapers fairly quickly" after the Dow Jones purchase.[4]

On September 4, 2013, News Corp announced that it would sell the Dow Jones Local Media Group to Newcastle Investment Corp.—an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, for $87 million. The newspapers are operated by GateHouse Media, a newspaper group owned by Fortress. News Corp. CEO and former Wall Street Journal editor Robert James Thomson indicated that the newspapers were "not strategically consistent with the emerging portfolio" of the company.[5] GateHouse in turn filed prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27, 2013, to restructure its debt obligations in order to accommodate the acquisition.[6]

The newspaper is published every day except Christmas. It has a national reputation for journalism excellence in writing, photography and design.[7][8] The Cape Cod Times has been named the "Newspaper of the Year" by the New England Press Association and Suburban Newspapers of America; the "Sunday Newspaper of the Year" by the New England Newspaper Association; and "Website of the Year" by the New England Press Association and New England Associated Press Executives Association.

Inside each daily edition of the Times are separate sections for news, sports, business, and classified ads. Additional news sections include "Business & Technology" (Tuesday); "Food" (Wednesday); "Health" (Thursday); "Lifestyle" and "CapeWeek" (Friday); "Arts & Entertainment" and "Movies & More" (Saturday); and, on Sunday, "Business & Finance," "Travel," "Cape & Islands" (local news), "Viewpoints" (opinion), "Home & Family," "TV Etc.," "The Wall Street Journal Sunday," "Real Estate" and "TVTimes" (television).[9]

In December 2012, the paper discovered that Karen Jeffrey, a reporter who had worked for the paper since 1981, had apparently fabricated sources in her stories since 1998.[10] The problem was first noticed when editors were unable to locate a family of four profiled in a Veterans Day story. Initially, Jeffrey said she had thrown away her notes. After an audit of her work performed by the publisher and editor of the paper, they were unable to locate 69 people referenced in 34 stories since 1998, when the paper began its electronic archives. The paper said that the majority of the problems were in less serious stories about parades, festivals, and voters. According to the paper, Jeffrey eventually admitted to making up sources. She is no longer employed by the paper.[10][11]

In September 2013, after the Times was sold,[12] editorial design work was moved to GateHouse's Center for News and Design in Austin, Texas, and printing was moved to the Times' sister paper, the Providence Journal. In 2015, the paper was named GateHouse Newspaper of the Year and Executive Editor Paul Pronovost was named Editor of the Year.[13] In 2017, publisher Peter Meyer was named head of GateHouse's New England division.[14]

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations report from September 2004, the Times sold an average of 50,896 copies on weekdays and 60,460 copies on Sunday. In 2006, ABC figures reflected a lower distribution of approximately 49,440 on weekdays, 49,820 on Saturdays and 56,710 on Sundays.

The Times' main news office is on Main Street in Hyannis, the largest village of Barnstable, Massachusetts. It also has news bureaus on the main streets of Falmouth and Orleans, Massachusetts. Circulation, business and printing operations, formerly handled at the headquarters office, are now in a 71,000-square-foot (6,600 m²) facility at Independence Park, Hyannis, built in 1988 and expanded in 1994. A brand new home delivery distribution warehouse was recently opened in Independence park servicing the mid-Cape.[2] There are also distribution facilities in Pocasset and Harwich servicing the upper and lower Cape.

• Bill Breisky (1978–1995)
• Cliff Schechtman (1995–2005)
• Paul Pronovost (2005–2019)
• Anne Brennan (2020-present)

• David Churbuck, former writer, co-founder of forbes.com
• George Foy, author
• Damian Paletta, staff reporter, The Washington Post

• List of newspapers in Massachusetts

• Cape Cod Times website
• Times Cape Cod Baseball League home page