The Daily Herald was founded as a weekly newspaper in 1848, when Columbia's population was only 1,700 people. In 1899, the newspaper converted from weekly to daily delivery. The city now has a population 34,811 in 2010 with a county population exceeding 81,956. Weekday circulation is 11,500 and Sunday circulation is 13,500, according to audited figures.
Ownership
In 1916 the newspaper was purchased by Walter D. Hastings and James I. Finney. Beginning in 1965 the newspaper was purchased by local businessman and politician Sam Delk Kennedy who also served as publisher. Kennedy served as either Editor or Publisher or both from 1965 to 1983. It was acquired by the Donrey Media Group in 1983. Reynolds died in 1993. The company was then sold to the Stephens family of Arkansas, best known for their investment banking business Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, Arkansas. After Stephens acquired the group, some of Donrey's properties were sold off, and the company moved its headquarters to Las Vegas, home of its largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The company was renamed Stephens Media Group in 2002. Most of Stephens newspapers operated in small to medium-sized towns and cities, but the company also owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a 186,000 circulation newspaper. In June 2006 the company became officially known as Stephens Media LLC and continued Mr. Reynolds' business philosophy of locally operated companies. Stephens Media LLC was a Nevada diversified media holding company that published over 11 daily and 64 weekly newspapers in nine states, primarily in Nevada and Arkansas. In 2015, the Stephens Media newspapers were sold to New Media Investment Group. GateHouse Media a wholly owned subsidiary of New Media Investment Group that will be managing the portfolio of 125 Daily Newspapers and 575 Weekly Newspapers in 32 states throughout the U. S.
Recent Publishers
Sam Kennedy served as the newspaper's publisher during the decades of the 1960s through 1983. Douglas Beel became the newspaper's publisher from 1983 until 1996. In 1996, Mark Palmer was named publisher. Keith Ponder served as Publisher from October 2015 to April 2020. Major department heads at the newspaper currently include; Editor James Bennett, Advertising Director Craig Duncan (who also serves as the General Manager of the Advertiser News of Spring Hill.
