Charles Monro Strong, a former University of Missouri student, founded the Daily Tribune on 12 September 1901 with help from Barratt O'Hara, entering a Columbia news market that until then had been served by three weeklies. Earnest M. Mitchell joined the founders in 1902 and bought Strong out in 1905, then died of typhoid fever the same year. Edwin Moss Watson bought the paper that year, beginning 111 years of ownership by the Watson and Waters families, passing to Watson's nephew Henry "Jack" Waters Jr in 1937 and eventually to two of Waters III's children in 2011. The family sold to GateHouse Media in 2016, ending its run as the last family-owned newspaper serving a Missouri city of 100,000 or more. GateHouse's parent acquired Gannett in 2019 and took the Gannett name. Jim Van Nostrand is editor and Joseph Leong publisher. ISSN 1543-6535. Today, Columbia Daily Tribune is mainly focused on Columbia and mid-Missouri local news, city and county government, University of Missouri coverage, courts and crime, Missouri Tigers sport, business and obituaries, published as a morning broadsheet seven days a week, from their base in Columbia, Missouri. One interesting fact: The paper no longer prints in Columbia. Gannett announced in July 2025 that printing and packaging operations would move to Des Moines, Iowa, ending local production at the plant that had also been printing the Springfield News-Leader since 2020.