Florida Keys Keynoter
Encyclopedia
The Florida Keys Keynoter is a twice-weekly tabloid format newspaper
owned by The McClatchy Company
and is a sister newspaper to the Miami Herald. It primarily serves Monroe
county in the U.S. state
of Florida
. In addition to publishing regular issues on Wednesday and Saturday, the Keynoter also publishes the weekend magazine L'Attitudes and the bi-monthly Fishing the Florida Keys magazine. The Keynoter is also a partner of the Upper Keys Reporter, which specializes in coverage of the Upper Florida Keys
, including Key Largo
.
, Marathon
, and Tavernier
, also work with the Miami Herald and Upper Keys Reporter to provide complete coverage of the Florida Keys and southern Florida. The newspaper has been continually among the best in the state, repeatedly earning awards from the Florida Press Association for design and newswriting. The newspaper's coverage of fishing in the Florida Keys and surrounding waters has been repeatedly praised, and special fishing sections regularly feature columns and tips from local fishermen.
, which was and still is primarily concerned with events in Key West. Upon moving to the Florida Keys on a permanent basis, Seney began work on a newspaper that would eventually become the Keynoter.
The first issue was published from a small Marathon
office operated by Seney, his wife, and a half a dozen other workers. Initially published on a weekly basis, Seney accepted a college fellowship in 1955, selling the newspaper to Nicholas Mitchell, associate editor of the Greenville, South Carolina
newspaper.
In 1956, James L. Knight
, one of the founders of the Knight-Ridder newspaper group, purchased the Keynoter. The Keynoter would remain a Knight-Ridder newspaper until 2006, when Knight-Ridder was purchased by rival newspaper group The McClatchy Company
.
The Keynoter didn't come into its own, however, until Hurricane Donna
ravaged the Florida Keys in September 1960. In the wake of the destruction caused by the hurricane, and to better provide coverage of the devastation, the Keynoter temporarily merged resources with the Florida Keys Sun, a weekly newspaper based in Islamorada. The two newspapers published joint editions for three weeks until splitting once more. After only one month of separate operation, however, the two papers merged permanently under the Keynoter name.
The post-merger Keynoter operated an Upper Keys bureau in the former Sun offices until 1977, when the bureau was moved to Key Largo, where it today occupies the second floor of the Upper Keys Reporter building. In 1984, the Keynoter switched to a twice-weekly Wednesday and Saturday publication schedule under the motto "Everyone needs it twice a week." The Keynoter continues to use this publication schedule and motto today.
In 2000, the bi-weekly schedule was bolstered by the addition of L'Attitudes, a weekly arts and entertainment insert included in the Saturday edition of the Keynoter. Also in 2000, the Keynoter launched the Key West Keynoter, a Key West-oriented edition of the Keynoter, specifically written and designed to appeal to readers in Key West, the most populous city in the Florida Keys.
These awards followed on the heels of its 2006 first-place finishes in the categories of general excellence, hurricane coverage, opinion section, web site, environmental writing, and sports column. In all of these categories, the Florida Press Association declared the Keynoter the best newspaper in the state of Florida in the 7,000 - 15,000 circulation division. That year, the Keynoter also received awards for in-depth reporting (2nd), outdoors reporting (2nd), obituary writing (3rd), editorial (2nd), serious column (3rd), and news story (honorable mention).
In 2006 and 2007, Florida Monthly magazine named the Keynoter the best weekly newspaper in the state of Florida.
The Florida Keys Keynoter is also the only Florida newspaper, daily, weekly, or otherwise, to win the First Amendment Defense Award three separate times.
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
owned by The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
and is a sister newspaper to the Miami Herald. It primarily serves Monroe
Monroe County, Florida
Monroe County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 79,589. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county was 74,737....
county in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. In addition to publishing regular issues on Wednesday and Saturday, the Keynoter also publishes the weekend magazine L'Attitudes and the bi-monthly Fishing the Florida Keys magazine. The Keynoter is also a partner of the Upper Keys Reporter, which specializes in coverage of the Upper Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
, including Key Largo
Key Largo
Key Largo is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and, at long, the largest of the Keys. It is also the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the Keys connected by U.S. Highway 1...
.
Overview
The newspaper employs approximately three dozen people in three bureaux across Monroe County. The bureaus, located in Key WestKey West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
, Marathon
Marathon, Florida
Marathon is a city on Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 10,255. As of 2005, the population estimated...
, and Tavernier
Tavernier, Florida
Tavernier is a census-designated place in Monroe County, Florida, on an island named Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys. The population was 2,173 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Tavernier is located at ....
, also work with the Miami Herald and Upper Keys Reporter to provide complete coverage of the Florida Keys and southern Florida. The newspaper has been continually among the best in the state, repeatedly earning awards from the Florida Press Association for design and newswriting. The newspaper's coverage of fishing in the Florida Keys and surrounding waters has been repeatedly praised, and special fishing sections regularly feature columns and tips from local fishermen.
History
The Keynoter was founded by Edgar Seney Jr. on February 19, 1953. Seney, a regular vacationer from his home state of Michigan, felt the Keys were missing a platform to inform residents about happenings and issues affecting the Florida Keys. Until that point, the only daily newspaper in the Florida Keys had been the Key West CitizenKey West Citizen
The Key West Citizen is a daily newspaper published in Key West, Florida, USA. The newspaper is the result of the amalgamations of several related publications in the early years of the 20th century, becoming the Key West Citizen on April 29, 1905, when the first weekly edition rolled off the...
, which was and still is primarily concerned with events in Key West. Upon moving to the Florida Keys on a permanent basis, Seney began work on a newspaper that would eventually become the Keynoter.
The first issue was published from a small Marathon
Marathon, Florida
Marathon is a city on Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 10,255. As of 2005, the population estimated...
office operated by Seney, his wife, and a half a dozen other workers. Initially published on a weekly basis, Seney accepted a college fellowship in 1955, selling the newspaper to Nicholas Mitchell, associate editor of the Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
newspaper.
James L. Knight
James Landon Knight was an American newspaper publisher and founder of the Knight Ridder group of newspapers....
, one of the founders of the Knight-Ridder newspaper group, purchased the Keynoter. The Keynoter would remain a Knight-Ridder newspaper until 2006, when Knight-Ridder was purchased by rival newspaper group The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
.
The Keynoter didn't come into its own, however, until Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna in the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season was a Cape Verde-type hurricane which moved across the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, Cuba, The Bahamas, and every state on the East Coast of the United States...
ravaged the Florida Keys in September 1960. In the wake of the destruction caused by the hurricane, and to better provide coverage of the devastation, the Keynoter temporarily merged resources with the Florida Keys Sun, a weekly newspaper based in Islamorada. The two newspapers published joint editions for three weeks until splitting once more. After only one month of separate operation, however, the two papers merged permanently under the Keynoter name.
The post-merger Keynoter operated an Upper Keys bureau in the former Sun offices until 1977, when the bureau was moved to Key Largo, where it today occupies the second floor of the Upper Keys Reporter building. In 1984, the Keynoter switched to a twice-weekly Wednesday and Saturday publication schedule under the motto "Everyone needs it twice a week." The Keynoter continues to use this publication schedule and motto today.
In 2000, the bi-weekly schedule was bolstered by the addition of L'Attitudes, a weekly arts and entertainment insert included in the Saturday edition of the Keynoter. Also in 2000, the Keynoter launched the Key West Keynoter, a Key West-oriented edition of the Keynoter, specifically written and designed to appeal to readers in Key West, the most populous city in the Florida Keys.
Awards
In 2007, the Keynoter received several awards from the Florida Press Association. In the categories of "special section" and "serious column," the Keynoter earned second place in the 7,000 - 15,000 circulation division. It earned third place in the website and community service categories, also in the 7,000 - 15,000 division.These awards followed on the heels of its 2006 first-place finishes in the categories of general excellence, hurricane coverage, opinion section, web site, environmental writing, and sports column. In all of these categories, the Florida Press Association declared the Keynoter the best newspaper in the state of Florida in the 7,000 - 15,000 circulation division. That year, the Keynoter also received awards for in-depth reporting (2nd), outdoors reporting (2nd), obituary writing (3rd), editorial (2nd), serious column (3rd), and news story (honorable mention).
In 2006 and 2007, Florida Monthly magazine named the Keynoter the best weekly newspaper in the state of Florida.
The Florida Keys Keynoter is also the only Florida newspaper, daily, weekly, or otherwise, to win the First Amendment Defense Award three separate times.
External links
- Official Site
- Florida Keys Keynoter issues freely available through the Florida Digital Newspaper LibraryFlorida Digital Newspaper LibraryThe Florida Digital Newspaper Library provides access to the news and history of Florida through local Florida newspapers. The Florida Digital Newspaper Library is supported by the University of Florida's George A...