The Telegram Newspaper Canada is a daily newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays  in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.The Evening Telegram was first published on April 3, 1879 by William James Herder. It adopted its current name in 1998, although it was also briefly published under this name in 1881. Herder and his descendants owned and published The Evening Telegram until it was sold to Thomson Newspapers (now Thomson Corporation) in 1970, and continued as publishers until the departure of Stephen J. Herder (William’s Grandson) in 1991. Order of Canada recipient Miller Ayre has held the position of publisher since 1994. Since 2004, The Telegram has been a division of Montreal media giant Transcontinental Media, which also owns its sister paper, The Western Star in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, as well as many weeklies in small Newfoundland outports.
William Herder began as a printer for the St. John’s weekly The Courier. When it folded in 1878, Herder purchased one of the presses and began his own newspaper.The Telegram was notable as the first daily (excluding Sundays) in Newfoundland. It is also the only 19th century Newfoundland newspaper to survive into the 20th (and now 21st) century. Over the course of its history, the paper has published news, stories and editorials of interest to readers in the Dominion/Province of Newfoundland and St. John’s in particular. Coverage of the St. John’s Great Fire of 1892 was hampered as the Evening Telegram head office on Duckworth Street was completely destroyed in the fire. Despite heavy losses, Herder rebuilt, and was publishing from a temporary location on Water Street less than two months later.