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Merced Sun-Star

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Merced Sun-Star
Cover of Merced Sun-Star on May 18, 2006
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
OwnerThe McClatchy Company
Founder(s)Robert Johnson Steele
Rowena Granice Steele
PublisherTim Ritchey
EditorChristopher Kirkpatrick
Founded1869 (as San Joaquin Valley Argus)
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters1190 Olive Ave.
Merced, CA 95348
United States
Circulation7,926 Daily (as of 2020)[1]
OCLC number20681689
Websitemercedsunstar.com

The Merced Sun-Star is a daily broadsheet newspaper printed in Merced, California, in the United States. It is owned by McClatchy.

History

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In 1862, Robert Johnson Steele, a newspaper publisher who fought in the Mexican–American War as part of the 1st Mississippi Rifles,[2] and his wife Rowena Granice Steele published the first newspaper in Merced County called the Merced Banner. The paper operated for two years until Union soldiers destroyed it in 1864.[3] A year later P.D. Wigginton and J.W. Robertson established the Weekly Merced Herald. The Democratic paper was politically Copperhead.[4] The Steeles returned to Snelling in 1868 to revive the Herald after it ceased.[5] R.J. Steele relaunched the paper on August 28, 1869 as the San Joaquin Valley Argus, writing the Herald had "died by termination of contract."[6]

The Argus relocated to Merced on April 5, 1873, after the county seat was moved to that city.[3] A mob destroyed the paper's office in December 1874 after R.J. Steele's stepson, Harry Hale Granice, fatally shot Edward Madden, editor of the Merced Tribune.[7][8] The Argus then went on hiatus from Dec. 5, 1874 to March 5, 1875.[3] Granice wrote a booklet on the shooting while in jail called "Hunted Down; or, Five Days in the Fog."[9][10] He was founded guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison,[11] but the California Supreme Court granted him a new trial.[12] A jury convicted him a second time, but the supreme court reversed the decision and released Granice,[13] who went on to buy the Sonoma Index.[14]

A rival paper was launched on June 17, 1880, called the Merced Star. It was founded by brothers Thomas and Charles Harris.[15][3] The Steeles launched a daily edition called the Merced Daily Argus on Oct. 4, 1886.[3] Mr. Steele died in January 1890.[2] Mrs. Steele retired in June 1890, leaving their son Lee R. Steele as the sole proprietor and editor.[16] In December 1889, J.O. Blackburn started the Merced Journal.[17] In December 1890, the Steele family sold the Argus to Justus Hubbard Rogers and Charles Daniel Radcliffe.[3] In January 1891, Rogers and Radcliffe acquired the Journal and merged it with the Argus to form the Merced County Sun.[18][3] Rogers soon sold out to Willard Beebe,[19] who in turn sold out to Radcliffe in 1893. Beebe went on to own the Los Banos Enterprise.[3] Radcliffe's brother Corwin Radcliffe joined the paper in 1895.[3] Star co-owner Thomas Harris died in 1897.[20] Sun co-owner C.D. Radcliffe died in 1919,[21] and Urban J. Hoult then became a partner at the Sun.[22]

In 1921, Charles Harris sold the Star to Walter H. Killam.[23] In 1924, Sun co-owner Hoult died.[24] In 1925, Peter McClung and his two sons Ray and Hugh McClung bought the Merced Evening Sun and Merced Morning Star and merged them together to form the Merced Sun-Star.[25] In 1941, Dean Lesher, publisher of the Fremont Tribune in Nebraska, bought the Sun-Star from the McClung family.[26][27] Lesher died in 1993.[28] Two years later, Lesher Newspapers, Inc. sold the Sun-Star, Madera Tribune, and several other papers to USMedia Group, Inc., of Crystal City, Missouri.[29] In 2004, the paper was acquired by The McClatchy Company.[30][31]

In July 2024, the newspaper announced it will decrease the number of print editions to three days a week: Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.[32]

Awards

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In 2010, the newspaper won a Associated Press Managing Editors Association award in the First Amendment category for a series of stories exposing racist emails sent by an Atwater city councilman.[33]

Weekly newspapers

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The Merced Sun-Star also publishes other weekly newspapers, including:

  • Atwater Signal
  • Chowchilla News
  • Livingston Chronicle

References

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  1. ^ "McClatchy | Markets". November 21, 2021. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Death of an Old Newspaper Man". The San Francisco Examiner. January 29, 1890. p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Galloway, R. Dean (September 8, 1969). "100 Years of Newspapering". Merced Sun-Star. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Salutatory". Weekly Merced Herald. May 13, 1865. p. 2.
  5. ^ "To Be Resuscitated". Stanislaus County Weekly News. Modesto, California. August 7, 1868. p. 2.
  6. ^ "Our Paper". Merced Sun-Star. August 28, 1869. p. 2.
  7. ^ "Tragedy At Merced. | A Son Avenges an Affront to His Mother - Result of a Newspaper War". The San Francisco Examiner. December 8, 1874. p. 1.
  8. ^ "Another Tragedy". The Morning Times. Oakland, California. December 9, 1874. p. 2.
  9. ^ Williams, Sarah (December 10, 1990). "Fog tale chronicled by local man". Merced Sun-Star. p. 3.
  10. ^ Granice, Harry (July 9, 2010). Hunted Down; or, Five Days in the FogA Thrilling Narrative of the Escape of Young Granice from a Drunken, Infuriated Mob.
  11. ^ "Found Guilty". Inyo Independent and Owens Valley Progress Citizen. July 24, 1875. p. 2.
  12. ^ "People Vs. Granice". Merced Express. December 11, 1875. p. 5.
  13. ^ "The Granice Trial". Stanislaus County Weekly News. Modesto, California. January 12, 1877. p. 3.
  14. ^ "Notice". The Petaluma Courier. December 3, 1884. p. 2.
  15. ^ "New Paper". Stanislaus County Weekly News. Modesto, California. June 18, 1880. p. 2.
  16. ^ "Two And County". Stanislaus County Weekly News. Modesto, California. June 13, 1890. p. 3.
  17. ^ "Local Items". The Modesto Bee. December 9, 1889. p. 1.
  18. ^ "Newspaper Consolidation". The San Francisco Call Bulletin. January 18, 1891. p. 2.
  19. ^ "Local Brevities". Merced Express. October 22, 1892. p. 3.
  20. ^ "Thomas Harris Dead. | Was One of the Best-Known Newspaper Men on the Coast". The Sacramento Union. January 13, 1897. p. 8.
  21. ^ "Merced Evening Sun Publisher Is Dead". The Bulletin. San Francisco, California. Associated Press. May 26, 1919. p. 5.
  22. ^ "Urban J. Hoult Now Merced Newspaper Man". The Record. Stockton, California. December 23, 1919. p. 6.
  23. ^ "Walter Killam Buys The Merced Star". The Record. Stockton, California. January 1, 1921. p. 1.
  24. ^ "Urban J. Hoult IS Summoned". Merced Express. October 31, 1924. p. 1.
  25. ^ "Merced Papers Are Consolidated". The Chico Enterprise. April 30, 1925. p. 1.
  26. ^ "Merced Sun-Star Sold Today; New Publisher In Possession". Merced Sun-Star. March 17, 1941. p. 1.
  27. ^ "Buys Newspaper". Santa Barbara News-Press. International News Service. p. 1.
  28. ^ "Newspaper publisher Dean Lesher dead at the age of 90". The Napa Valley Register. Napa, California. Associated Press. p. 11.
  29. ^ Seto, Benjamin (January 20, 1995). "Valley paper groups sold | Merced Sun-Star and Madera Tribune among newspapers purchased by Missouri-based company". The Fresno Bee. p. 25.
  30. ^ "McClatchy buys the Sun plus the Star". Silicon Valley Business Journal. December 4, 2003. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  31. ^ Chircop, David (January 7, 2004). "Merced Newspaper Enjoys A Rich History | Sun-Star Now Part Of McClatchy Co". Merced Sun-Star. p. 1.
  32. ^ Kirkpatrick, Christopher (July 19, 2024). "Merced Sun-Star print days changing as digital transition continues. What to expect". Merced Sun-Star. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  33. ^ "Sun-Star reporter honored for Frago e-mails coverage". Merced Sun-Star. August 26, 2010. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
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