Houston Chronicle The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas , USA , headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building located at 801 Texas Avenue , Houston , TX . , it is the ninth - largest newspaper by circulation in the United States . With its 1995 buy - out of long - time rival the " Houston Post " , the Chronicle became Houston ' s primary newspaper . The " Houston Chronicle " is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation , a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $ 4 billion in revenues . The paper employs nearly 2 , 000 people , including approximately 300 journalists , editors , and photographers . The " Chronicle " has bureaus in Washington , D . C . and Austin . Its web site averages more than 75 million page views per month . History . From its inception , the practices and policies of the " Houston Chronicle " were shaped by strong - willed personalities who were the publishers . The history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals . 1901 – 1926 : Marcellus E . Foster Era . The " Houston Chronicle " was founded in 1901 by a former reporter for the now - defunct " Houston Post " , Marcellus E . Foster . Foster , who had been covering the Spindletop oil boom for the " Post " , invested in Spindletop and took $ 30 of the return on that investment — at the time equivalent to a week ' s wages — and used it to found the " Chronicle " . The " Chronicle ' s " first edition was published on October 14 , 1901 and sold for two cents per copy , at a time when most papers sold for five cents each . At the end of its first month in operation , the " Chronicle " had a circulation of 4 , 378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time . Within the first year of operation , the paper purchased and consolidated the " Daily Herald " . In 1908 , Foster asked Jesse H . Jones , a local businessman and prominent builder , to construct a new office and plant for the paper , " and offered [ a ] half - interest in the newspaper as a down payment , with twenty years to pay the remainder . Jones agreed , and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South . " ( Wikipedia formattign needed - the quote is from page 77 of Jesse H . Jones : The Man and the Statesman by Bascom N . Timmons copyright 1956 Henry Holt and Company ) Under Foster , the paper ' s circulation grew from about 7 , 000 in 1901 to 75 , 000 on weekdays and 85 , 000 on Sundays by 1926 . Foster continued to write columns under the pen name Mefo , and drew much attention in the 1920s for his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan . He sold the rest of his interest to Jesse H . Jones on June 26 , 1926 and promptly retired . Goodfellows . In 1911 , City Editor George Kepple started Goodfellows . On a Christmas Eve in 1911 , Kepple passed a hat among the " Chronicle ' s " reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe - shine boy . Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers . It has grown into a city - wide program that provides needy children between the ages of 2 and 10 with toys during the winter holidays . In 2003 , Goodfellows distributed almost 250 , 000 toys to more than 100 , 000 needy children in the Greater Houston area . 1926 – 1956 : Jesse H . Jones Era . In 1926 , Jesse H . Jones became the sole owner of the paper . He had approached Foster about selling , and Foster had answered , " What will you give me ? " Jones described the buyout of Foster as follows ( citation in Wikipedia format needed p . 121 - 122 of " Jesse H . Jones : The Man and the Statesman " by Bascom N . Timmons , copyright 1956 Henry Holt and Company ) : " Wanting to be liberal with Foster if I bought him out , since he had created the paper and originally owned most of the stock , and had made a success of it , I thought for a while before answering and finally asked him how much he owed . He replied , ' On real estate and everything about 200 , 000 dollars . ' I then said to him that I would give him 300 , 000 dollars in cash , having in mind that this would pay his debts and give him 100 , 000 spending money . In addition , I would given him a note for 500 , 000 secured by a mortgage on the Chronicle Building , the note to be payable ( interest and principal ) at the rate of 35 , 000 a year for thirty - five years , which I figured was about his expectancy . I would also pay him 20 , 000 dollars a year as editor of the paper and 6 , 000 dollars a year to continue writing the daily front - page column , ' MEFO , ' on the condition that either of us could cancel the editorship and / or the MEFO - column contracts on six months notice , and that , if I canceled both the column and the editorship , I would give him an additional 6 , 000 dollars a year for life . I considered the offer substantially more than the Chronicle was worth at the time . No sooner had I finished stating my proposition than he said , ' I will take it , ' and the transaction was completed accordingly . " In 1937 , Jesse H . Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly - established Houston Endowment Inc . Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956 . According to The Handbook of Texas Online , the Chronicle generally represented very conservative political views during the 1950s : Jones , a lifelong Democrat who organized the Democratic National Convention to be in Houston in 1928 , and who spent long years in public service first under the Wilson administration , helping to found the Red Cross during World War I , and later famously under the Roosevelt administration , described the paper ' s mission in these terms : " I regard the publication of a newspaper as a distinct public trust , and one not to be treated lightly or abused for selfish purposes or to gratify selfish whims . A great daily newspaper can remain a power for good only so long as it is uninfluenced by unworthy motives , and unbought by the desire for gain . A newspaper which can be neither bought nor bullied is the greatest asset of a city or state . Naturally , a newspaper makes mistakes in judgment , as it does in type ; but , so long as errors are honestly made , they are not serious when general results are considered . The success or failure of a particular issue is of little consequence compared with the all - important principle of a fearless and honest newspaper . This I intend the Chronicle shall always be , a newspaper for all the people , democratic in fact and in principle , standing for the greatest good to the greatest number , championing and defending what it believes to be right , and condemning and opposing what it believes to be wrong . Such have always been the policies of the Chronicle and to such it is now rededicated . " ( Wikipedia citation formating needed - quote is from page 122 - 123 of Jesse H . Jones : The Man and the Statesman ) . 1956 – 1965 : John T . Jones Era . The board of Houston Endowment named John T . Jones , nephew of Jesse H . Jones , as editor of the " Chronicle " . Houston Endowment president , J . Howard Creekmore , was named publisher . In 1961 , John T . Jones hired William P . Steven as editor . Steven had previously been editor of the Tulsa Tribune and the Minneapolis Star Tribune , and credited with turning around the declining readership of both papers . One of his innovations was the creation of a regular help column called " Watchem , " where ordinary citizens could voice their complaints . The " Chicago Tribune " later called this column a pioneer and prototype of the modern newspaper " Action Line . " Stevens ' progressive political philosophy soon created conflict with the very conservative views of the Houston Endowment board , especially when he editorially supported the election of Lyndon B . Johnson , the Democratic candidate for President . In 1964 , the " Chronicle " purchased the assets of its evening newspaper competitor , the " Houston Press " , becoming the only evening newspaper in the city . By then , the " Chronicle " had a circulation of 254 , 000 - the largest of any paper in Texas . The " Atlantic Monthly " credited the growth to the changes instigated by Steven . In the summer of 1965 , Jones decided to buy a local television station that was already owned by the Houston Endowment . He resigned from the Houston Endowment board to avoid a conflict of interest , though he remained as publisher of the Chronicle . On September 2 , 1965 , Jones made a late - night visit to the Steven home , where he broke the news that the Endowment board had ordered him to dismiss Steven . Jones had to comply . On September 3 , the paper published a story announcing that Everett Collier was now the new editor . No mention was made of Steven or the Houston Endowment board . " Houston Post " staff wrote an article about the change , but top management killed it . Only two weekly papers in Houston : " Forward Times " ( which targeted the African - American community ) and the " Houston Tribune " ( an ultra conservative paper ) . Both papers had rather small circulations and no influence among the city ' s business community . The two major newspapers in Houston never mentioned Steven for many years thereafter . 1965 – 1987 : J . Howard Creekmore Era . In 1965 , both John T . Jones and William P . Steven left the " Chronicle " . J . Howard Creekmore , president of the Houston Endowment , took John Jones ' place at the " Chronicle " . Everett D . Collier replaced Steven as editor . Collier remained in this position until his retirement in 1979 . J . Howard Creekmore was born in Abilene , Texas in 1905 . His parents died while he was young , so he was raised by his stepmother . The family moved to Houston in 1920 . Howard enrolled in Rice Institute , where he graduated with degrees in history and English . After graduation , he went to work for Jesse Jones as a bookkeeper . Jones took an interest in the young man ’ s career , and put him through law school . Creekmore passed the bar exam in 1932 and returned to work for Jones . He held several positions in the Jones business empire . In 1959 , he was named to the board of Houston Endowment , and was promoted to president of the board in 1964 . By 1965 , Creekmore had persuaded other directors of Houston Endowment to sell several business properties , including the Chronicle . Houston oilman John Mecom offered $ 85 million for the newspaper , its building , a 30 % interest in Texas Commerce National Bank and the historic Rice Hotel . Early in 1966 , Mecom encountered problems raising the additional cash to complete the transaction . He then began lining up potential buyers for the newspaper , which included non - Houstonians such as Sam Newhouse , Otis Chandler and the Scripps - Howard organization . Creekmore strongly believed that local persons should own the paper . He insisted that Mecom pay the $ 84 million debt immediately in cash . Mecom cancelled his purchase agreement . In 1968 , the " Chronicle " set a Texas newspaper circulation record . In 1981 , the business pages — which up until then had been combined with sports — became its own section of the newspaper . Creekmore remained as publisher until Houston Endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corporation . 1987 – present : Hearst Corporation Era . On May 1 , 1987 , the Hearst Corporation purchased the " Houston Chronicle " from Houston Endowment for $ 415 Million . Richard J . V . Johnson , who had joined the paper as a copy editor in 1956 , and worked up to executive vice president in 1972 , and president in 1973 , remained as chairman and publisher until he retired April 1 , 2002 . He was succeeded by Jack Sweeney . In 1994 , the " Chronicle " switched to being a morning - only paper . With the demise of the " Houston Post " the following year , the " Chronicle " became Houston ' s sole major daily newspaper . On October 18 , 2008 , the paper endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States in the 2008 U . S . Presidential Election , the first Democrat to be endorsed by the newspaper since 1964 , in which it endorsed Texan Lyndon B . Johnson . Headquarters . The " Houston Chronicle " building in Downtown Houston is the headquarters of the " Houston Chronicle " . The facility includes a loading dock , office space , a press room , and production areas . It has ten stories above ground and three stories below ground . The printing presses used by the newspaper span three stories . The presses are two stories below ground and one above . In the Downtown facility , the presses there were decommissioned in the late 2000s . The newsroom within the facility has bull - pen style offices with a few private cubicles and offices on the edges . The facility is connected to the downtown Houston tunnel system . The facility , almost 100 years old , was originally four separate structures that were joined together to make one building . They were joined together in a major renovation and modernization project completed in the early 1970s . People . Jack Sweeney is the publisher of the " Houston Chronicle " , John T . O ' Loughlin is the President of the newspaper . As of February 2012 , the editorial board includes : The paper employs nearly 2 , 000 people , including approximately 300 journalists . In addition , the " Chronicle " contracts with multiple distributors who circulate and deliver copies of the newspaper . John H . Murphy was a longtime " Chronicle " officer . He was the assistant to Richard Johnson , a former executive vice president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association , and a newspaperman , mostly in Houston , for seventy - four years . Pulitzer Prize . " The Houston Chronicle " is the largest newspaper ( by daily circulation ) in the United States to have never won a Pulitzer Prize for journalism . However , the newspaper and its staff have several times been Pulitzer finalists : Sections . The Houston Chronicle is divided into several sections : the " local " sections are no longer published on Thursdays . Robert Jensen series on the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the U . S . . In the weeks following the September 11 , 2001 attacks the " Houston Chronicle " published a series of opinion articles by University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen that asserted the United States was " just as guilty " as the hijackers in committing acts of violence and compared that attack with the history of U . S . attacks on civilians in other countries . The opinion piece resulted in hundreds of angry letters to the editor and reportedly balls of furry : p over 4 , 000 angry responses to Jensen . Among them were claims of insensitivity against the newspaper and of giving an unduly large audience to a position characterized as being extremist . University of Texas president Larry Faulkner issued a response denouncing Jenson ' s as " a fountain of undiluted foolishness on issues of public policy " , noting " [ h ] e is not speaking in the University ' s name and may not speak in its name . " The " Chronicle " printed four subsequent opinion articles by Jensen , asserting his case . Jensen is also a regular guest writer on the opinion page and has published several dozen opinion articles on other subjects in the " Chronicle " . Other publications . In April 2004 the " Houston Chronicle " started a Spanish - language supplement , the entertainment magazine " La Vibra " . " La Vibra " caters to speakers of Spanish and bilingual English - Spanish speakers , and is mainly distributed in Hispanic neighborhoods . In December 2004 the " Chronicle " acquired the Spanish - language newspaper " La Voz de Houston " . Criticism . Light rail controversy . In late 2002 , " Chronicle " website managers accidentally posted an internal memorandum on its web site . The memorandum outlined a draft agenda of coordinated news articles , editorials , and op - eds seemingly intended to promote a referandum to expand Houston ' s controversial METRORail system on the 2003 ballot . It proposed several " investigative " news stories and editorials designed to examine " the campaign led by Tom DeLay and Bob Lanier to defeat rail expansion . " DeLay , a Houston congressman , and Lanier , a former mayor of Houston , had both actively opposed light rail in the past . The memorandum also proposed attacks on Houston Councilmember Rob Todd , who had filed suit and temporarily blocked Metrorail , as well as attacks on the wife of Bob Lanier , Elyse Lanier . The document was online for only an hour , but long enough to be viewed by some readers . Soon after the " Houston Review " , a conservative newspaper published by students at the University of Houston , printed the memo ' s full text and an accompanying commentary that criticized the paper . The " Chronicle ' s " response was initially muted . Its first official response appeared in the " corrections " section later the same week stating : " An internal " Houston Chronicle " document was mistakenly posted to the editorial / opinion area of the Web site early Thursday morning . We apologize for any confusion it may have caused . " " Chronicle " editor Jeff Cohen , who gave a statement in defense of the memorandum : " I make no apologies for having a thorough discussion of the issue . We have nothing to apologize for … There was an inadvertent posting of it to the Web site , and I ' m sorry about that , but I make no apologies for the contents of it . " As the bond referendum approached , the " Houston Chronicle " requested that Texans for True Mobility ( TTM ) , the main critic of METRORail , provide the paper with a copy of their financial contributor reports . TTM declined , saying they did not believe the " Chronicle " would adequately protect the privacy of their donors . The " Chronicle " responded by making a complaint to the Harris County District Attorney ' s office asking that Texans for True Mobility be investigated for potential violations of Texas election law . The " Chronicle " alleged that TTM broke a law requiring PAC s to disclose their donors . TTM said that their status as a registered non - profit 501 ( c ) ( 6 ) organization , as opposed to a PAC , did not require them to do so . The " Chronicle " argued that the law covered TTM because it made " paid political moves . " Texas campaign law allows nonprofits to run " educational " advertisements , but those advertisements cannot endorse specific political positions or people or make a specific recommendation in a pending election . The dispute was over whether TTM ' s advertisements , and specifically the slogans " Metro ' s Rail Plan Costs Too Much . . . Does Too Little " and " Metro ' s Plan Won ' t Work Here , " were specific recommendations on how to vote . Harris County District Attorney Rosenthal later dismissed the Chronicle ' s complaint , finding it without merit on the grounds that the statute did not apply . Rosenthal ' s involvement in the probe itself came under fire by the " Houston Press " , which in editorials questioned whether Rosenthal was too close to TTM : from 2000 to 2004 , Rosenthal accepted some $ 30 , 000 in donations from known TTM supporters . Later that year , TTM revealed that that their TV and radio ads were funded by $ 30 , 000 in contributions made the day before the election by two PACs controlled by DeLay . Sandoval family interview . In early 2004 , " Chronicle " reporter Lucas Wall interviewed the family of Leroy Sandoval , a Marine from Houston who was killed in Iraq . After the article appeared , Sandoval ' s stepfather and sister called into Houston talk radio station KSEV and said that a sentence alleging " President Bush ' s failure to find weapons of mass destruction " in Iraq misrepresented their views on the war and President George W . Bush , that Wall had pressured them for a quotation that criticized Bush , and that the line alleging Bush ' s " failure " was included against the wishes of the family . A dispute ensued between KSEV radio show host / owner Dan Patrick and an assistant managing editor at the " Chronicle " . The incident prompted Patrick to join the call for a boycott of the paper . The story was also picked up by the local Houston television stations and , a week later , the O ' Reilly Factor . Eventually , " Chronicle " publisher Jack Sweeney contacted the Sandoval family to apologize . Purchase of " Houston Post " assets . On April 18 , 1995 , the " Houston Post " ceased operations , leaving the " Chronicle " as Houston ' s only major daily newspaper , and the Hearst Corporation purchased some of the " Post ' s " assets . " Houston Chronicle " announced it in a way that suggested the shutdown and Hearst ' s purchase of the " Post ' s " assets were simultaneous events . " " Post " closes ; Hearst buys assets , " the " Chronicle " headline read the day after the " Post " was shut . Internal memos obtained from by FOIA from the Justice Department antitrust attorneys who investigated the closing of the " Houston Post " said the " Chronicle ' s " parent organization struck a deal to buy the " Post " six months before it closed . The memos , first obtained by the alternative paper the " Houston Press " , say the " Chronicle ' s " conglomerate and the " Post " " reached an agreement in October , 1994 , for the sale of Houston Post Co . ' s assets for approximately $ 120 million . " Tom DeLay poll . In January 2006 the " Chronicle " hired Richard Murray of the University of Houston to conduct an election survey in the district of U . S . Rep . Tom DeLay , in light of his 2005 indictment by District Attorney Ronnie Earle for alleged campaign money violations . The Chronicle said that its poll showed " severely eroded support for U . S . Rep Tom DeLay in his district , most notably among Republicans who have voted for him before . " Former Texas Secretary of State Jack Rains contacted the " Chronicle ' s " James Howard Gibbons , alleging that the poll appeared to incorrectly count non - Republican Primary voters in its sample . Rains also asserted that Murray had a conflict of interest in the poll , as Murray ' s son Keir was a political consultant working for Nick Lampson , DeLay ' s Democratic challenger in 2006 . In response , Gibbons denied the methodological flaws in the poll . Availability of " Houston Post " articles . Some " Houston Post " articles had been made available in the archives of the " Houston Chronicle " website , but by 2005 they were removed . The " Houston Chronicle " online editor Mike Read said that the " Houston Chronicle " decided to remove " Houston Post " articles from the website after the 2001 United States Supreme Court New York Times Co . v . Tasini decision ; the newspaper originally planned to filter articles not allowed by the decision and to post articles that were not prohibited by the decision . The " Houston Chronicle " decided not to post or re - post any more " Houston Post " articles because of difficulties in complying with the New York Times Co . v . Tasini decision with the resources that were available to the newspaper . People interested in reading " Houston Post " articles may view them on microfilm . The Houston Public Library has the newspaper on microfilm from 1880 – 1995 and the " Houston Post Index " from 1976 to 1994 . The microfilm of 1880 - 1900 is in the Texas and Local History Department of the Julia Ideson Building , while 1900 - 1995 is in the Jesse H . Jones Building , the main building of the Central Library . In addition , the M . D . Anderson Library at the University of Houston has the " Houston Post " available on microfilm from 1880 – 1995 and the " Houston Post Index " from 1976 to 1979 and from 1987 to 1994 . Prices . " Chronicle " prices are $ 1 daily ; $ 2 . 50 ( $ 3 outside Harris / neighbouring counties ) Sunday / Thanksgiving Day .