The Leader-Vindicator is a weekly newspaper serving New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the surrounding community.[1]

The Leader Vindicator
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Independent Publications
Founder(s)S.C Hepler
PublisherPat Patterson
EditorJosh Walzak
Sports editorRich Rhoades
Founded1929 (1929)
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersNew Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Circulation4,300
Websitewww.thecourierexpress.com/the_leader_vindicator/

It is owned by Independent Publications, under the Community Media Group of Frankfort, Illinois.[1] According to the American Newspaper Representatives, the newspaper has a paid circulation of approximately 4,300 copies.[2]

History edit

The paper is the result of the 1929 merger of the New Bethlehem Vindicator and the Bethlehem Leader. The New Bethlehem Vindicator was founded in 1879 as a seven column Independent paper,[3] expanding to eight pages in 1880.[4] It was sold by Ed Himes to S.C. Hepler of the slightly older Bethlehem Leader in 1929, and the papers were merged into a single paper, making it the only local paper available in Bethlehem.[5]

The paper was bought from L. O. Hepler, by Tom T. Andrews in 1947.[6] Counting his work at the Bethlehem Leader Hepler had at that point been editor and later publisher of the weekly newspaper for almost forty-five years.[6]

In 1953, Herbert Phillips was appointed editor, succeeding his father B. E. Philipps .[7]

The paper was sold to James Shaffer in 1986, but Andrews stayed on as co-publisher until his death in 1996.[8] After the death of Andrews, Shaffer sold the company to McLean Publishing,[9] a company run by a family that owned other local papers.[10] The paper was put under the Independent Publishers Group.

In 2013, McLean Publishing's holdings under the Independent Publishers group were sold to Community Media, including The Leader Vindicator.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "New Bethlehem Leader-Vindicator". Mondo Times. Mondo Times. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  2. ^ "American Newspaper Representatives database" (PDF). 2019-02-03.
  3. ^ "The New Bethlehem Vindicator". The Indiana Progress. 18 September 1879.
  4. ^ "Eight page paper". The Forest Republican. 16 June 1880.
  5. ^ "New Bethlehem Has Only One Paper Now". Simpson's Leader-Times. 4 January 1929.
  6. ^ a b "New Bethlehem Leader Vindicator Changes Hands". The Jeffersonian-Democrat. 26 June 1947.
  7. ^ "Leader Vindicator Gets New Editor". The Jeffersonian-Democrat. 9 April 1953.
  8. ^ "About The Leader Vindicator". Leader Vindicator.
  9. ^ "Courier Express publisher sets retirement". Indiana Gazette. 30 December 1998.
  10. ^ "The Old Team". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 11 April 1980.
  11. ^ "Community Media buys Pa. newspapers". The Sentinel. 5 March 2013.