Founded in 1858, the Belleville News-Democrat came into being to serve the rapidly growing population of Southwestern Illinois. The idea sparked when local publishers realized that the booming region, which had a very large population of German immigrants at the time, needed a dedicated newspaper to keep the community connected and informed about local issues. For over a century, the paper was owned and operated by the Kern family, who turned it into a powerful local voice, but today, the publication is owned by McClatchy, a large American media company that operates newspapers across the country. Today, the Belleville News-Democrat is run by a team of local journalists and is mainly focused on local government, high school sports, and military news related to the nearby Scott Air Force Base. They are based in Belleville, Illinois, located just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. They serve the area known as the "Metro East," acting as the primary news source for the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan area. One interesting fact: A unique fact about the Belleville News-Democrat is that despite being a mid-sized local paper, it has won journalism's highest honor. In 2007, the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for a series of articles that exposed corruption and terrible conditions within the East St. Louis Housing Authority, proving that local papers can have a massive impact.