Florida Today

Florida Today

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Gannett Company
Editor	Bob Stover
Headquarters	1 Gannett Plaza Melbourne, FL 32940  United States
Circulation	Daily: < 80,000 Sunday: < 100,000
ISSN	1051-8304
Official website	floridatoday.com

Florida Today is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County. The Gannett corporation bought the paper in 1966.^[1]

In addition to its regular daily publication, Florida Today publishes four weekly and eight biweekly community newspapers which are tailored for distinct neighborhoods within Brevard County. Daily circulation (75¢/issue) of the main publication is less than 80,000, with Sunday circulation ($1.50/issue) below 100,000. Circulation of the paper tends to be higher in the winter, lower in summer.

History

Gannett's Florida Today, initially simply Today, was built at the Cocoa Tribune, to compete with the regional and dominant Orlando Sentinel and the state-wide Miami Herald. When Gannett (Gannett Florida) acquired the Cocoa newspaper, it also acquired the Titusville Star-Advocate in the county seat to the north, the Melbourne Times to the south, and the tabloid weekly Eau Gallie Courier, the latter published from the Cocoa facility.

In order to guarantee advertisers a minimum circulation, Gannett delivered papers at no cost to all residences in Brevard County for the first two weeks of the newspaper's life. It continued this free circulation promotion to specific parts of the county until its circulation met the minimum set for the advertisers.

Both the Titusville and Melbourne papers maintained their independence and continued to be printed at each publication's own facility.^[2]

Teen section

A teen section The Verge was "by, for and about teens." The section was composed by 40 students, as long as they were under 20 (most were in local high schools, but a few attended the local Brevard Community College). The section had regular articles in rotation such as Generation Gaps, where teens and someone from an earlier generation (parent, teacher, coach, etc.) wrote opposing views to a topic. The section began expanding into other parts of the paper and throughout the week. It was originally published on the back of Sunday's People section.

At a 2006 conference, The Verge won two national awards: First and Second Place for Best News Story. In May 2007, it was announced that The Verge would be integrated with the paper, rather than have its own section.

Operations

Florida Today owns the weekly Seminole Chronicle, a community newspaper in Seminole County as well as the semi-weekly Central Florida Future, originally the University of Central Florida school newspaper. It is distributed free of charge on campus as well as through several nearby businesses.

The paper publishes niche magazines including Spaces,^{[clarification needed]} Brevard County Moms, and 32940.^{[clarification needed]} The newspaper Web site^[3] includes a space coverage, Metromix entertainment web site and coverage of youth sports.

Recognition

The paper was cited in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 as a Gold Medal Newspaper for overall excellence by Gannett Co.^[4]

Editors

• Terry Eberle 2002-2008
• Bob Stover 2008-present

Footnotes

1. ^ http://www.gannett.com/map/history.htm retrieved on June 4, 2007
2. '^ John Glenn, former stoneman at Todays start-up and for the Eau Gallie Courier, and (later) reporter at the Titusville Star-Advocate.
3. ^ [www.floridatoday.com Florida Today]
4. ^ [1]

External links

	Florida portal
	Journalism portal

• Florida Today official site
• Official mobile website
• Gannett subsidiary profile of Florida Today