The Gainesville Times (Georgia)


The Gainesville Times is a daily newspaper based in Gainesville, Georgia that covers Hall County and Northeast Georgia. The current general manager is Norman Baggs. The current editor in chief is Shannon Casas. The Headquarters are located at 345 Green Street, NW Gainesville, GA 30501. Circulation delivery deadlines are 6:30 am Monday through Friday inside Hall County and 7:30 am in other areas. On weekends the deadline is 7am in all areas. They print daily except for Saturday.

History

The Gainesville Times was founded in 1947 by Charles and Lessie Smithgall under the original name The Gainesville Daily Times. After World War II, Charles and Lessie started their newspaper 303 Washington Street, Gainesville, GA. Ray Hull wad the first editor and Sylvan Meyer was his main reporter. The first issue came off a second hand flat-bed press in a former funeral home on a Sunday morning, January 26, 1947. Since that Sunday morning, the Times has never missed a run. They Printed daily Sunday through Friday. They began with the printing capacity of eight pages per press run. The newspaper started with around 3,000 circulation but finished at around 4,000 before the end of their first year.
In 1952, the Gainesville Daily Times moved around the block to 308 W. Spring Street to share a building known as the Press-Radio Center which was also owned by the Smithgall's. That same year a fire started in the composing room but the paper was still released that day with help from other printers around town. Sylvan Meyer soon became managing editor and then head editor, helping the newspaper grow.
In 1957, the newspaper had grown enough to buy a more modern rotary press which allowed the printers to now run thirty-two pages per press run. The "Gainesville" was then dropped from the newspapers name in an effort to convey a broader coverage area.
In 1970, the Daily Times was able to acquire a new facility on North Green Street to install a new offset press with improved printing technology. The first paper from this new press was printed on April 27th. The "Daily" was dropped from the newspaper name soon after in 1972.
In 1981, The Times was sold to Gannett Co. Inc. in 1981 and by the next year, Gannett expanded the press to accommodate printing of USA Today for parts of the Southeast.
In 2004, The Times was sold to Morris Multimedia Inc., the largest privately owned media organization in the United States. The current owner, Metro Market Media, took over in 2018.

Coverage

Sections

"County Touches Off Avoidable Firestorm" by The Times Editorial Board. It was described by the Georgia Associated Press as, "Excellent example of holding public officials accountable, spotlighting their efforts to avoid keeping the public informed until it’s to their benefit to do otherwise and laying out the cost in dollars and public trust."

Awards