Reporter at 50: From newsletter to newspaper

In observance of the 50th anniversary of Reporter, this column will include short snippets of Reporter history.

Although Reporter has been around for 50 years, its current format has not. When Reporter was launched as a standalone publication in 1975, it was not a monthly newspaper but a weekly newsletter. Over the years it moved to a less frequent publishing schedule, at different times being published one, two or three times per month. During these years, Reporter was published by Concordia Publishing House (CPH).

In August 1993, Reporter underwent an enormous change, moving from (at that time) a 22-issues-per-year newsletter to a 12-issues-per-year tabloid newspaper. Also at this time, it began being published by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod instead of CPH. An article about the change in Reporter’s first issue as a newspaper stated that it was driven by “budgetary restraints and reader demands” and would allow Reporter “to include 60 percent more news about the Synod, its districts and members, and the church at large. Other changes are planned for future editions.”

In future months, we’ll explore some of those other changes.

Posted March 18, 2024