| The Advocate | |
| Type: | Daily newspaper |
| Owner: | Gannett |
| Founder: | Benjamin Briggs |
| Language: | English |
| Publishing City: | Newark, Ohio |
| Publishing Country: | United States |
| Issn: | 0740-2120 |
| Oclc: | 9898663 |
The Advocate is the local daily newspaper of Newark, Ohio, serving the general Licking County region. It has been part of the Gannett family of newspapers and periodicals since 2000.[1]
The Advocate is the single remaining daily newspaper in Newark. Other early Newark newspapers (all now defunct) included the Newark Weekly American, Newark Leader, and Newark American Tribune.
In 1820, a 22-year-old local resident named Benjamin Briggs printed the first issue in a wooden stilt shanty over a frog pond on the west side of what is now Newark's downtown square. Briggs, beset with start-up problems, could only publish three issues in his first five months in business. However, within a year, he was publishing a four-page, four-column paper with the first page devoted to foreign news composed mostly of letters from other papers. During the middle of the century, the paper was a weekly edition, and served as an important regional news source during the American Civil War. In March 1882, the Advocate was sold to John A. Caldwell and soon became a daily newspaper.
Today, the Advocate occupies a 48000square feet complex with about 200 employees. It is headquartered at 22 N. First Street in downtown Newark.