History of The Courier Herald

Carriers and staff of the Dublin Courier-Dispatch in the early 1900s.
Young carriers take to the streets of Dublin in the early days of newspaper delivery.
Longtime Courier Herald editor W.H. “Champ” Champion (left) and publisher W.E. Lovett (right)
Bicycle carriers mount up outside original newspaper offices on the courthouse square.
Your Home Newspaper: Editor W.H. Champion stands next to a community advertisement urging the public to subscribe to the Courier-Herald.
An early printing press cranks out the daily edition.
Gov. George Busbee joins the Dublin Courier Herald’s 100th publication anniversary in June of 1978.
A more modern facade for the Dublin Courier Herald’s downtown storefront in the 1970s.
Mailroom staff insert circular ads before sending papers on to carriers.
Finished product: A Sunday Courier Herald, almost ready for delivery.
In with the new: Installation of a brand new Goss Community press begins in 1969, ushering in a brand new era of publishing in Dublin and Laurens County.
This downtown department store was renovated and converted into The Courier Herald’s modern-day newsroom and front offices in a 1980s expansion.
Work nears completion on the publishing company’s modern-day headquarters at the corner of Jefferson and Madison streets.
Dublin Courier Herald staff in 1978
The Courier Herald’s newsroom staff, circa 1982
Advertising, business and sales staff in the early 1980s.
Griffin Lovett (left) and DuBose Porter (right) took over as the paper’s next generation of ownership in 1987.
Where the magic happens: A view of The Courier Herald’s current newsroom, during the late 1990s.
Reporters hard at work covering Dublin-Laurens County and Middle Georgia.
Getting it right: Press operators of the early 2000s fine-tune color registration during printing.
Mailroom supervisor Elizabeth Mimbs counts out stacks of papers coming off the conveyor.
Another edition hits the streets.
A Laurens County Library exhibit in 2013 commemorates 100 years of daily news in The Courier Herald.
The Courier Herald marks 100 years of daily publication in November of 2013.

Dublin newspaper history started in 1876 with the publication of “The Gazette.” This paper, a weekly, was begun by one of Dublin’s most progressive leaders, Colonel John M. Stubbs. On June 20, 1878 another publication, “The Dublin Post”, began publishing by J. W. Peacock Company.

In 1887, “The Dublin Courier” began. In the same year a little sheet called “The People,” began publication under the ownership of D. J. Thaxton from Jackson, Georgia. In 1894, the “Dublin Dispatch” was established by a stock company with J. A. Peacock as editor.

“The Dispatch” and “The Courier” were consolidated in 1899 as “The Courier-Dispatch,” under the management of A.P. Hilton, E.W. Morcock, H.M. and V.L. Stanley. In April of 1903, K.K. Hawkins and CA. Weddington established a semi-weekly known as The Dublin Times. Soon George W. Williams purchased the paper and Earnest Camp became editor.

“The Courier-Dispatch,” in 1903 installed a Mergenthaler Linotype machine, a modern, Babcock press and an Eclipse folding machine. The owner believed this was the first country newspaper in the South to install a Linotype machine. In the later part of the 19th century, a weekly paper, “The Transcript” was published for a short time.

In the second decade of the 20th century there were in Dublin “The Dublin Messenger” and “The Laurens County News.” These were merged into “The Dublin Press,” a weekly published in 1929. “The Press” was merged into “The Dublin-Courier-Herald-Dispatch” and the name became “Courier-Herald-Dispatch and Press”. In 1929, “The Dublin Courier Herald” was owned by a stock company composed of W. H. Lovett, W. M. Harrison and Mrs. W. M. Harrison – all of Dublin. W. M. Harrison, was editor and manager. In the 1930s “The Dublin Courier Herald,” was thought to be the largest daily in Georgia to be published in a town with a population of less than 10,000.

In August 1930, “The Laurens Citizen,” a weekly, was established with the editor and owner O. B Overstreet. “The Laurens Citizen” was purchased by “The Dublin Courier Herald” in 1942 which continued to operate it as a weekly. Due to a shortage of newsprint during World War II, the weekly stopped publication on 1944.

In 1945 W. H. Champion, 34, bought an interest in “The Dublin Courier Herald” and was hired as editor by W. H. Lovett, owner of The Courier Herald Publishing Company. “Champ” and “Sparkplug”, as he was called by those who knew him, grew up in Macon and was a graduate of Mercer University, receiving an AB degree (1931) and a Masters of Arts degree (1934).

The age of offset printing was ushered into Dublin in 1969 when “The Dublin Courier Herald” installed an eight unit Goss community press and became the first daily to purchase and use Compugraphic typesetting equipment. The paper tape driven 2961s had one of the first serial numbers from the Compugraphic Corporation. By 1975 the newspaper went totally cold type, selling its last Linotype to Southern Printing Company just down the street.

Notable figures during the early years included Sara Orr Williams, once secretary to U.S. Senator Tom Waston; she was famous for her wide-brimmed, big hat, cigarette holder, and sharp and salty tongue. Newspaper legend has it that Sara Orr, upon learning that names of an accident fatality and an injured person were transposed in a news story, stood and shouted above the din of the newsroom, “Stop the presses, stop the presses, the #*^%$#* didn’t die!” Sara explained she always wanted to stop the presses and figured this opportunity could possibly be her last and only chance.

Another figure, Bush Perry, who had been advertising director and part-time sports editor, became the first full-time sports editor at the paper. A popular person, he helped make the sports section one of the most outstanding features of the paper. A true sports lover, he died while watching his favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, on television. His legacy to sports and to the newspaper is demonstrated in the Bush Perry Memorial Baseball Field located at Dublin High School.

In 1973 Doug Hall and Griffin Lovett were hired. Doug Hall, a Dublin native, came to work as a reporter; he was a recent graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia and was named editor of the paper in 1978.

Lovett, grandson of W. H. Lovett, came to work at the family newspaper as a photographer. He helped usher the transition from the use of “paper tape” driven typesetting machines to the desktop/Macintosh revolution of the newspaper industry.

Lovett served eight years in the capacity of photographer until he was named publisher in 1981. While owner and publisher of The Courier Herald, he was elected two terms to the Dublin City Council At-Large. Co-owner and editor DuBose Porter already served as Laurens County’s state representative. This unique dual responsibility of both an editor and publisher being elected and serving at the same time was noted by a magazine trade publication “Presstime” as a unique dual role that may have been a first.

Lovett and Doug Hall helped shape the modern-day daily into one of the best in its size in Georgia. During this time the name of the paper, Dublin Courier Herald, was changed to The Courier Herald. This was done to emphasize the broader appeal of the paper to the adjoining county subscribers.

In 1985 Doug Hall left the paper to become press secretary for a U.S. senatorial candidate, Dave Garrett. After a year of campaigning Garrett dropped out of the race, and later Hall went to work in the Washington, D.C., bureau of a large Mexican newspaper, “Excelsior.”

In May 1987 Courier Herald Publishing Company President W. E. Lovett announced an agreement to transfer ownership of “The Courier Herald” to a corporation composed of Griffin Lovett and DuBose Porter.

“As president of the Courier Herald Publishing Company, I’m pleased to announce the sale to our readers,” W.E. Lovett said in a newspaper article dated Wednesday, May 13, 1987. “I’m most pleased with this action because it keeps ownership and operation of the paper in local hands. I was very pleased when DuBose Porter approached me and agreed to acquire an interest in the paper. I think highly of Mr. Porter and his ability and believe he will make an outstanding owner and editor of the paper.”

Also a Dublin native, Porter was a 1971 graduate of Dublin High School and held a degree in English literature from Davidson College in 1975. He also served an internship with Senator Sam Nunn that summer. He graduated from Cumberland Law School at Samford University in 1979 and soon after established the law firm of Nelson and Porter with James F. Nelson,. Jr. In 1982 he was elected state representative from the 119th district where he served until 2010.

Lovett and Porter launched an effort to raise circulation and pushed the daily  distribution to over 13,000. The Courier Herald was spotlighted in “Circulation Magazine” as the fastest growing newspaper in Georgia for that year. It was a reflection of the growth of the region and Dublin as a growing retail center.

Georgia Trend’s 1996 economic outlook noted that Dublin should solidify its position as a retail center for an eight-county 160,000 population area, aided by expansion of the city’s medical complex and satellite commercial development.

With the increase in circulation, The Courier Herald was pushed into the category of newspapers recognized by the Georgia Press Association as Class “B”, which included papers such as Rome, Athens, Valdosta and Griffin, thus The Courier Herald became a “small” big paper rather than the “big” small paper which it had been for many years.

Over a span of years between 1998 and 2004, Lovett and Porter purchased a number of neighboring weekly newspapers including The Soperton News, The Montgomery Monitor, The Wheeler County Eagle, The Johnson Journal, The Twiggs Times New Era, The Cochran Journal and The Wilkinson County Post, making The Courier Herald flagship of a larger regional publishing footprint covering eight Central Georgia counties. 

Another wave of expansion between 2021 and 2023 stretched the reach of the Dublin Courier Herald Publishing Company much further across the state with the acquisition of two semi-dailies, The Albany Herald and Houston Home Journal, and seven other weeklies including The Sandersville Progress, Fort Valley’s Leader Tribune, The Sparta Ishmaelite, Dooly County’s News Observer, The Harris County Journal, Macon County’s Citizen Georgian, Meriwether County’s Star-Mercury Vindicator, Talbot County’s Talbotton New Era. 

In 2024, the chain of 18 community papers became part of the newly-established Georgia Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the nonprofit National Trust for Local News backed by support from the John S. and James L. Knight, Robert W. Woodruff and Marguerite Casey foundations launched with a mission of preserving, sustaining and expanding the service of The Courier Herald, and community newspapers across the state, for years to come.

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