The Buffalo News


The Buffalo News is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located at 1 News Plaza in downtown Buffalo, New York. The paper was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, the paper reported that it was being sold to Lee Enterprises.

History

The News was founded in 1873 by Edward Hubert Butler, Sr. as a Sunday paper. In 1880, it began publishing daily editions as well, and in 1914, it became an inversion of its original existence by publishing Monday to Saturday, with no publication on Sunday. During most of its life, the News was known as The Buffalo Evening News. A gentleman's agreement between the Evening News and the Buffalo Courier-Express meant that the Evening News would be evening-only, and the Courier-Express would be morning-only. Until 1977, the News did not publish on Sundays because of the agreement, and its weekend edition appeared on Saturday evening.
The Butler family owned the Evening News until 1977, when longtime owner and publisher Katherine Butler, granddaughter of the founder, died and left no heirs. The Evening News properties were placed in a blind trust, which sold the Evening News to Berkshire Hathaway. The new owners began publishing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. After a period of financial decline, the Courier-Express published its last issue on September 19, 1982. The Evening News then shortened its name to The Buffalo News and became an all-day newspaper, publishing two editions seven days a week.
On October 1, 2006, the News announced it would abandon its evening edition later that month.
The Buffalo News had published three morning editions that appear online at BuffaloNews.com, reaching over 400,000 readers, across eight counties each day. These separate editions were eliminated in 2018 and consolidated into a single Final edition, in response to a newsprint shortage.
The News Designated Market Area had the largest adult population in upstate New York. Counties in total circulation area: New York - Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Steuben, Wyoming; Pennsylvania - Cameron, Erie, McKean, Potter, Warren.
The newspaper founded and owned the WBEN television and radio stations, which are now WIVB, WBEN, WYRK and WTSS, respectively. The radio stations are now owned by separate companies, but in 2014, WIVB came back under partial coownership, with the News when Buffett's Media General merged with the WIVB parent company, LIN Media.
The online version of The Buffalo News operates under a soft paywall allowing a limited number of page views per week. All Buffalo Bills-related content, branded as "BN Blitz", is behind a hard paywall.
On January 29, 2020, the News reported it was being sold along with the rest of Berkshire Hathaway's newspaper portfolio to Lee Enterprises, an Iowa-based owner of 50 newspapers that has had significant ties to Berkshire Hathaway since 2012 and had operated Berkshire Hathaway's newspapers since 2018.

Pulitzer Prizes

Journalists for The Buffalo News and The Buffalo Evening News have won four Pulitzer Prizes:
News journalists have been finalists for three other Pulitzer Prizes, but did not win:
Other journalists who won awards include Richard J. Burke, who in 1972 won the New York State Associated Press Award for his series of articles about bicycling around Western New York.

Past publishers and editors

Only three members of the Butler family were publishers.