The Wise County Messenger was established at Paradise in 1880 and is one of Wise County’s oldest business institutions and its largest newspaper.

The Messenger is recognized as one of the best semi-weekly newspapers in Texas. It has earned the coveted Sweepstakes award from the Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest for the past ten years. It is also a consistent Sweepstakes winner in the West Texasand North and East Texas Press Associations contests. In addition, the newspaper has earned several National Newspaper Association awards for excellence.

Paid circulation of the Messenger on Wednesday and Saturday averages 6,000 with All Around Wise, a Total Market Circulation section of an additional 21,845, bringing the total available paid and free mailed circulation on Wednesdays to 27,824.

The Wise County Messenger Update is a free distribution news sheet published Monday through Friday with a county-wide circulation of 4,000. Update contains the latest capsulized local news and is also posted daily on the Messenger website, www.wcmessenger.com. It is the most popular area of the site, as evidenced by 111,549 hits during a recent month.