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Copley Press

Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois but later based in La Jolla, California.[1] Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Company type

c. 1905 (1905)

2009 (2009)

Dissolved

Copley family

Pulitzer Prizes[edit]

Copley News Service and The San Diego Union-Tribune, with notable work by Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer, won the 2006 National Reporting prize for their disclosure that former Congressman Randy Cunningham received bribes, which ultimately led to his criminal conviction and imprisonment.[6][7]


Additionally, the San Diego Evening Tribune, predecessor of the Union-Tribune, won Pulitzer Prizes in 1987 and 1979.

Allegations of collaboration with CIA and FBI[edit]

In the late 1970s, the American media reported that the Copley Press was used as a front by the Central Intelligence Agency. Reporters Joe Trento and Dave Roman claimed that James S. Copley, who served as publisher until 1973, had cooperated with the CIA since its founding in 1947. They also reported that a subsidiary division, Copley News Service, was used in Latin America by the CIA as a front.


Trento and Roman also said that reporters at the Copley-owned San Diego Union and Evening News spied on antiwar protesters for the FBI. They alleged that, at the height of these operations, at least two dozen Copley employees were simultaneously working for the CIA. James S. Copley was also accused of involvement in the CIA-funded Inter-American Press Association.[8][9][10]

— founder, president until 1942

Ira Clifton Copley

A. W. Shipton — 1942–1947

— 1947–1973

James S. Copley

— 1973–2001

Helen K. Copley

— 2001 to 2009

David C. Copley

Alhambra Post-Advocate

(Illinois)

Aurora Beacon News

Burbank Daily Review

Copley News Service

(Torrance, California)

Daily Breeze

(Wheaton, Illinois)

Daily Journal (Wheaton, Illinois)

(Illinois)

Elgin Courier-News

Glendale News-Press

(Illinois)

Joliet Herald-News

(Los Angeles)

KCOP-TV

(Gurnee, Illinois)

Lake County News-Sun

(Naperville, Illinois)

Naperville Sun

Peoria Journal Star

(Port of Los Angeles area)

San Pedro News-Pilot

(Stark County, Ohio)

The Repository

The Sacramento Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Santa Monica Evening Outlook

(Springfield, Illinois)

The State Journal-Register

Venice Evening Vanguard