Publisher David A. Raese Managing editors Pam Queen Sports editor Drew Rubenstein | Editor Geri Ferrara News editor Kathy Plum Photo editor Ron Rittenhouse | |
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The Dominion Post is the only commercial daily newspaper in Morgantown, West Virginia. It is the merger, over time, of the Morgantown New Dominion, the Morgantown News, which became the Morgantown Dominion-News, and the Morgantown Post. The term "New Dominion" was a reference to Virginia's state nickname of "Old Dominion", referencing the separation of the state in 1863.
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While it dominates the local market, it has a healthy competition with the Fairmont Times-West Virginian in the rural counties surrounding the area to be the primary newspaper. As Morgantown is considered part of the Pittsburgh television market, the Dominion Post has a news partnership with KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, serving as a second news partner to the station alongside the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, covering West Virginia topics for the station.
The paper is owned by John Raese and his brother David Raese. John Raese was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1984, 2006, and 2011 and for Governor in 1988. He also owns the West Virginia Radio Corporation and its Metro News division, however the two news operations do not share resources.
The newspaper takes a conservative stand on most issues; in recent years, since John Raese became involved in Republican politics, the paper has grown considerably more conservative and follows the national Republican Party's positions on many issues. It covers West Virginia University and its sports programs very closely, often to the exclusion of other news.
History
The Dominion Post traces its roots to 1864 when The Morgantown Weekly Post was founded. In 1876, the other predecessor of the paper, The New Dominion was founded. In 1930, The New Dominion became The Dominion News. Around this time, the two papers formed the West Virginia Newspaper Publishing Company and consolidated their publishing operations. It was not until 1973 that the two papers officially merged and became The Dominion Post.
Online Edition
The Dominion Post is only available online for subscribers. The system runs on a custom software platform that allows users to see and navigate the same version of the print edition online. The Dominion Post had a free online edition available since 1996, but switched to the paid module in January 2005. This caused complaints from many of its readers. The Dominion Post still offers limited free sections online including Classified Ads and Educational Resources.