[4][5] The State Journal's editorial board earned the newsroom's first Pulitzer finalist honor in 2008 for its "persistent, high-spirited campaign against abuses in the governor's veto power.

[10] To bring in more revenue Atwood followed his brother's example in the east and began a lucrative sideline business of printing law books.

In 1858, Atwood was commissioned a major general in the Wisconsin Militia by Governor Alexander W. Randall, but still retained financial interest in the daily.

[11] In the early 1850s Atwood was aided by Horace Rublee, who had left the University of Wisconsin to be the legislative reporter for the Democratic Madison Argus.

Although he had managed newspapers in La Crosse and Hudson, WI and Stillwater, Minnesota he was not a journalist, but instead used the paper to further his strong political ambitions.

[13] Wilder began to transform the State Journal into a more civic-minded newspaper, focusing on local problems but falling short of embarking on crusades.

In Wilder's absence he put his business manager August Roden in charge, a typesetter who had come up through the ranks as reporter and later associate editor.

His greatest triumph began in 1907 with his crusade against the high rates and poor quality of Madison Gas & Electric's service.

Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. encouraged this purchase to such a degree that he arranged for wealthy supporters of the progressive cause to lend Jones $85,000 of the $100,000 necessary to make the deal.

Jones ramped up the paper's already liberal views with hard-hitting, provocative editorials that attacked big business and brooked no compromise.

[18] New readers and advertisers were added with the help of a beefed up Sunday edition that included color comics, a pink sports section and a magazine supplement.

[15] As World War I raged on, Jones continued his virulent attacks on La Follette and anyone who supported him while heartily endorsing the formation of Loyalty Leagues.

When La Follette criticized war profiteering by armaments manufacturers, Jones responded with charges of price-gouging by small local merchants, which drove some of those businesses to move their advertising to the Capital Times.

In 1918 Jones' trumpeted his opposition to a La Follette-backed candidate for U.S. Senate, urging readers to "DECIDE STATE'S LOYALTY TODAY" in a blaring primary-day headline.

[citation needed] In June 1934 the State Journal and the Capital Times began to work in tandem by offering reduced advertising rates to clients who ran ads in both papers.

The deal required the formation of two new corporations: the Wisconsin State Journal Co. and the Capital Times Co., both operating under the name Madison Newspapers.

State Journal associate editor (and later publisher) Don Anderson regarded the agreement as "a shotgun wedding, conceived through the realization of both parties that we were broke."

Since afternoons were then deemed a more profitable time to hit the streets and doorsteps, they agreed that whichever paper moved to mornings would become the sole publisher of a Sunday edition to make up for the predicted loss in circulation.

[20] The new partnership began on November 15, 1948 as Madison Newspapers, Inc. On February 1, 1949, the Wisconsin State Journal moved from afternoons to mornings and was awarded the Sunday spot.

[22] The Wisconsin State Journal vociferously supported McCarthy throughout his political career, consistently defending his methods and attacking his detractors.

Striking employees had founded the Madison Press Connection, which survived for a year and a half as a general-interest daily before folding in January 1980.

[27] In 2004, the Wisconsin State Journal named Ellen Foley, former managing editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, as its first female editor-in-chief.