Newspapers in general are struggling, but the Tennessean has enough heft and good strategy to keep it going for the moment. Its presses are used, not only for the masthead daily, but for other Gannett properties (USA Today) and local papers from towns around the state that can no longer afford to keep their printing in house. With this volume of work, the Tennessean relies of huge rolls of paper (this one weighs 2500 lbs.) and vats of inks for economies of scale. Begun in 1812 as The Whig, the Tennessean and its parent publications have published continually with the exception of the period when Union troops occupied the city. After 14 different mergers and names, the paper became the Nashville Tennessean in 1907.