The Memphis Press-Scimitar was an afternoon newspaper based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Created from a merger in 1926 between the Memphis Press and the Memphis News-Scimitar, the newspaper ceased publication in 1983. It was the main rival to The Commercial Appeal, also based in Memphis and owned by Scripps.[2] At the time of its closure, the Press-Scimitar had lost a third of its circulation in 10 years and was down to daily sales of 80,000 copies.[3]
From 1906 to 1931, The Memphis Press was edited by founder Ross B. Young, a journalist from Ohio brought down by local business interests looking for a voice to speak to the stranglehold that E. H. "Boss" Crump had on city government, employment, and contracts. From 1931 to 1962, The Press-Scimitar was edited by Edward J. Meeman.[4]
The Memphis Evening Scimitar was published from at least 1891 to 1904[5] when it merged with the Memphis Morning News. It was also published as the News Scimitar.[6]
It was partly owned by Memphis merchant tycoon Napoleon Hill who commissioned the Scimitar Building in 1902. Memphis architects August A. Chigazola (1869-1911) and William J. Hanker (1876–1958) designed it.[1][7] Hill, known as Memphis' original "merchant prince",[8] lived on the other side of Madison Avenue in a mansion on the site where the Sterick Building is now.[1][9] Hill's initials are etched into the façade of the building.[10]
The paper condemned U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt's 1901 dinner with Booker T. Washington.[11]
In John Grisham's novel The Client, the Memphis Press is fictionally presented as still existing and flourishing as a major Memphis paper into the 1990s.
En la película de 2004 The Ladykillers , durante la escena del sótano donde el personaje de Tom Hanks , el profesor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, describe la formación del equipo para el atraco, hace referencia a haber publicado un anuncio en el Memphis Scimitar , al que respondieron los posibles ladrones.
La novela Paperboy [12] , ganadora del premio Newberry en 2013, del ex editor de Press Scimitar, Vilas Vince Vawter, tiene a su personaje principal trabajando como transportista de papel entregando Press Scimitar. Una segunda novela, Copyboy , publicada en 2018, tiene al mismo personaje trabajando como copista en la sala de redacción del periódico. [13]