Los Angeles Herald-Examiner

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
Name	Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Founded	1962 (merger)
Ceased publication	1989
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California
Language	English

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner was a major English-language daily newspaper in Los Angeles, California, formed by a merger in the mid-20th century and ceasing publication near the end of the Cold War era. The paper served as a prominent voice in the Greater Los Angeles media market alongside rivals such as the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News, while covering events that connected to national stories like the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Its newsroom intersected with institutions including the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County cultural landscape.

History

The newspaper emerged from consolidations rooted in the 19th and 20th centuries, tracing lineage to titles such as the Los Angeles Herald and the Los Angeles Examiner, which individually responded to urban growth, migration, and industrial expansion tied to entities like the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Electric Railway. During the Progressive Era and the Roaring Twenties its predecessors covered labor disputes involving the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Industrial Workers of the World, as well as civic developments around the Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and the rise of Hollywood studios like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros.. Mid-century crises it reported on included the Zoot Suit Riots, the Black Dahlia murder, and postwar suburbanization associated with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

Ownership and Management

Ownership passed through media magnates and corporate groups connected to families and conglomerates such as the Hearst Corporation, whose broader holdings included the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Journal American; boards often overlapped with executives from the Times Mirror Company and investment firms active in the Dow Jones & Company era. Management interacted with municipal leaders including successive Los Angeles mayors and officials from the Los Angeles Police Department, and corporate governance reflected strategies similar to those at the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times Company. Labor relations brought the paper into conflict with unions like the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Newspaper Guild.

Editorial Staff and Notable Contributors

The newsroom fostered journalists, columnists, and cartoonists who later joined national outlets such as the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Newsweek, and who covered arts institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Getty Center. Notable reporters and editors had careers intersecting with figures like Bob Thomas in entertainment reporting, investigative journalists who influenced congressional hearings, and photojournalists whose work paralleled that of staff at the Associated Press and United Press International. Contributors included critics writing on film premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and music reviews tied to venues like the Whisky a Go Go and the Roxy Theatre.

Political Stance and Influence

Editorial pages often positioned the paper within local conservative–liberal debates, engaging with state politicians including Governor of California officeholders and members of the California State Legislature. The paper's endorsements and reporting influenced mayoral contests, ballot initiatives related to transportation projects like Measure M, and public safety discussions involving the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. During national controversies it covered perspectives tied to the Kennedy administration, the Nixon administration, and later presidencies, while its editorial line was often contrasted with the positions of the Los Angeles Times and national periodicals such as Time (magazine) and The New Republic.

Major Coverage and Impact

The publication covered major incidents including high-profile criminal trials, celebrity scandals involving actors and directors linked to studios such as Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox, and civic crises like the Watts riots and earthquakes that mobilized agencies like the United States Geological Survey. Investigative pieces prompted inquiries by authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and hearings in the United States Congress, and cultural criticism shaped conversations around institutions such as the San Francisco Opera when touring companies visited Los Angeles. The paper's sports pages chronicled teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Los Angeles Lakers, connecting to athletes and events in the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball.

Circulation, Distribution, and Decline

Circulation once rivaled that of metropolitan dailies in other major cities like the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News, but market pressures, union disputes, and competition from broadcasters such as KTLA (TV) and KABC-TV contributed to decline. Advertising revenue shifted toward television conglomerates including NBCUniversal and print rivals owned by groups like Gannett, while legal battles with labor unions and pension obligations paralleled challenges faced by papers such as the Detroit Free Press. By the late 1980s economic headwinds, shifts in suburban readership patterns tied to developments like the Interstate Highway System and corporate restructuring led to cessation of publication.

Archives and Legacy

Archival collections of reporting, photographs, and editorial material are held in repositories associated with the Los Angeles Public Library, university special collections at UCLA and USC, and national archives that preserve journalism history alongside papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post. Scholars of media history, urban studies, and legal scholars examining press–police relations reference the paper in studies alongside events such as the Rodney King case and reforms in municipal institutions. Its cultural footprint persists in histories of Hollywood, municipal politics, and the evolution of American journalism in the 20th century.

Category:Defunct newspapers of California