Business

Times/Review is first weekly publisher in Newseum gallery

The News-Review and its sister papers The SUffolk Times and Shelter Island Reporter became the first weeklies invited to participate in the Newseum's online display of front pages. (Credit: Newseum)
The News-Review and its sister papers The Suffolk Times and Shelter Island Reporter became the first weeklies invited to participate in the Newseum’s online display of front pages Thursday. (Credit: Newseum)

Displayed on the Newseum’s website today are the front pages of nearly 900 newspapers from 69 countries around the world.

Scrolling through the gallery of covers, directly above the Daily News and The New York Times, you’ll find the Riverhead News-Review. Also in the gallery, which is updated each day by the Washington, D.C. museum, are The Suffolk Times and the Shelter Island Reporter.

The three newspapers, all published by Times/Review Newsgroup of Mattituck, are the first weekly newspapers displayed in the online front page tribute, the museum confirmed Thursday. 

The inaugural display comes two weeks after at least 130 weekly newspapers from across the country sent in their covers to the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages editor in protest of the museum’s policy to only display papers with a daily circulation. Times/Review Newsgroup was among the publishers to take part in the protest, which was organized by Steve Thurston, who teaches community journalism at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md. and is a member of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

Organizers of the movement chose Apr. 17 because it is the birthday of Huck Boyd, the legendary community journalist from Phillipsburg, Kan.

The Newseum immediately responded by removing the word “daily” from the FAQs on the exhibit site that night. The policy now states that “any general interest newspaper” can email [email protected] for instructions on how to participate.

On Wednesday, Times/Review executive editor Grant Parpan received an invitation from the Newseum to display the company’s front pages each week.

“[You] will be a welcome addition to the display,” the invitation read.

“When people get together like this and feel strongly about a specific issue, and mobilize and make specific arguments, it does have an impact,” Jonathan Thompson, the Newseum’s senior manager of media relations, told Poynter Institute for a story published that evening. The U.S. has approximately 1,380 daily and 6,000 weekly newspapers, according to Poynter.

Mr. Parpan said it’s an honor for the entire staff that its publications are the first weeklies displayed in the online gallery.

“I’m really glad the protest worked,” he said. “As much as I’m excited to see us up there, I’m looking forward to having our community newspaper peers alongside us.”

Times/Review will continue to submit its front pages on a weekly basis, Mr. Parpan said. Today’s Front Pages is also a ground-floor exhibit at the Pennsylvania Avenue museum, but that display includes just one newspaper from each of the 50 states, the D.C. and a dozen other countries.

“Community newspapers work so hard to cover the issues that matter most to their readers,” said Times/Review publisher Andrew Olsen. “Even though we print weekly, it’s a daily grind. It’s so nice to have our efforts recognized by the Newseum.”

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