Cleveland Daily Banner

Cleveland Daily Banner
Front page of the January 17, 2016 issue of the Cleveland Daily Banner.
TypeThree day weekly[1]
Owner(s)Paxton Media Group[2]
Founder(s)Robert McNelley
PublisherJoyce Taylor
EditorAutumn Hughes
News editorTim Siniard
Sports editorJoe Cannon
Founded1854
Political alignmentNone
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publication1863
Relaunched1865
Headquarters2075 N. Ocoee St. Suite B
Cleveland, Tennessee 37311
Websiteclevelandbanner.com
The Cleveland Daily Banner headquarters at 2075 N. Ocoee Street

The Cleveland Daily Banner is a three-day weekly newspaper published in Cleveland, Tennessee. Founded in 1854, it is the longest-running and currently only newspaper in Bradley County, and one of the oldest newspapers in the state.[3]

The newspaper was founded as the Cleveland Banner, a Democratic newspaper by editor Robert McNelley (pronounced "McAnnelley"), and published its first edition on May 1, 1854. McNelley, who was a supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War, was arrested by Federal troops in the fall of 1863, and the newspaper ceased publication. The newspaper returned on September 16, 1865, under McNelley's leadership.[4]

Initially headquartered downtown, it moved to new offices on 25th Street in January 1970.[3] On February 13, 2023, the Banner offices moved once again to 2075 N. Ocoee Street following the sale of the Banner to Paxton Media Group.[5] Printing of the Banner moved to a separate site in Sevierville, Tennessee.[6]

The two former associate editors, Rick Norton and Gwen Swiger, were with the newspaper for a combined period of more than 50 years. The Gwen Swiger/Rick Norton Scholarship for Journalism and Communications, designed for students in Bradley County Schools and Cleveland City Schools, was announced on May 10, 2018, on a day designed in their honor by County Mayor D. Gary Davis and Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland. The scholarship is being administered by the Community Foundation of Cleveland/Bradley County, and was established by Banner staff writer Brian Graves.[7]

  1. ^ "Cleveland Daily Banner". The Bradley News. Cleveland, Tennessee. 2006. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  2. ^ "Alabama newspaper owner Carmage Lee Walls Sr. dies". Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  3. ^ a b Norton, Rick (11 June 2014). "Banner 160th saluted Friday". Cleveland Daily Banner. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  4. ^ Snell, William R. (1986). Cleveland the Beautiful. Williams Printing Company. pp. 28–29.
  5. ^ "BREAKING: Paxton acquires Cleveland Daily Banner". The Cleveland Daily Banner. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  6. ^ "Printing of Banner moves to Sevierville". The Cleveland Daily Banner. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  7. ^ "Swiger/Norton Journalism Scholarship". clevelandbradleyfoundation.org. Community Foundation of Cleveland and Bradley County. February 27, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-15.