Winnipeg Free Press
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The Free Press (or FP; founded as the Manitoba Free Press; previously known as the Winnipeg 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 became part of Canada, in 1870. The WFP's founding predated Winnipeg's own incorporation, in 1873.<ref name="History"/><ref name="MBAct">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="History">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="MHS">Template:Cite web</ref>
1874: The paper moved to a new building on Main Street, across from St. Mary Avenue.<ref name="MHS"/>
1882: Control of the Free Press was passed on to Clifford Sifton.<ref name="MHS"/> The organization subsequently moved to a building on McDermot Avenue, where it would remain until 1900.<ref name="MHS" />
1900: The paper moved to a new address on McDermot Avenue at Albert Street.<ref name="MHS"/>
1901: John Wesley Dafoe served as president, editor-in-chief, and editorial writer for the WFP until 1944.<ref name="MHS"/>
1905: The newspaper moved to a four-storey building at Portage and Garry.<ref name="MHS"/>
1913: The newspaper moved to 300 Carlton Street and would remain there for 78 years.<ref name="MHS"/>
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.<ref>Template:Cite BAILII</ref>
February 21, 1923: Harry Houdini was placed in the straight jacket by two city police officers and then hoisted by his feet with pulleys to 30 feet above the sidewalk off the side of the Winnipeg Free Press Building. The paper ran an amateur photo contest with impressive cash prizes of $15, $10 and $5 for the three best images of the escape. The contest would be won by L. B. Foote, who went on to chronicle events for the Free Press for two decades.<ref>Winnipeg Free Press. “Great Escapes.” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 Sept. 2013, https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2013/09/21/great-escapes. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.</ref>
December 2, 1931: The paper was renamed the Winnipeg Free Press.<ref name=MHS/>
1991: The Free Press moved to its current location in the Inkster Industrial Park, a Template:CAD plant<ref name=History /> at 1355 Mountain Avenue.<ref name=MHS/>
December 2001: The Free Press and its sister paper, Brandon Sun, were bought from Thomson Newspapers by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.<ref name="History" />
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The strike ended 16 days later, when the union ratified the final offer on Tuesday, October 28.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The contract was ratified by 67% of newspaper carriers, 75% of the pressmen, and 91% of the inside workers, including journalists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 {{#expr: abs(100 - (106,473 / 127,903 * 100)) round 0}}% to 106,473 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.<ref name="Circulation Chart">Template:Cite web Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined), which includes paid and unpaid copies.</ref>
- Daily average<ref name="Circulation Chart"/>
{{#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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable staff
- John Wesley Dafoe 1901-1944, president, editor-in-chief, & wrote influential editorials
- Charles Edwards (1928 – early-1930s): journalist and news agency executive<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Free access</ref>
- 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Bob Moir (1948–1958): television producer, sports commentator, and journalist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Hal Sigurdson (1951–1963; 1976–1996): columnist and sports editor from 1976 to 1989<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Free access</ref>
- Maurice Smith (1927–1937; 1940–1976): columnist and sports editor from 1944 to 1976<ref name="Free-Press-obituary">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Free access</ref>
- Scott Young (1936–1940): sports writer from 1936 to 1940<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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