Austin American-Statesman

The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett.

Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman building
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Gannett
PublisherPatrick Dorsey
EditorJohn Bridges
Founded1871
(as the Democratic Statesman)
Headquarters305 South Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78704
Circulation129,519 daily
183,685 Sunday[1]
ISSN1553-8451
Websitestatesman.com

The paper prints Associated Press, New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times international and national news, but has strong Central Texas coverage, especially in political reporting. The Statesman benefits from the culture and writing heritage of Austin. It extensively covers the music scene, especially the annual South by Southwest Music Festival. The newspaper co-sponsors Austin events such as the Capital 10K, one of the largest 10K runs in the U.S., and the Season for Caring charity campaign. In the Austin market, the Statesman competes with the Austin Chronicle, an alternative weekly.

The Statesman also publishes a weekly Spanish-language newspaper, ¡ahora sí!. Additionally, the Statesman partners with the St. Petersburg Times for PolitiFact Texas, which covers issues that are relevant to Texas and the Austin area.

Circulation

In 2009, the Austin American-Statesman ranked 60th in circulation among daily newspapers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.[2] Figures from Scarborough Research show the Statesman — in print and online – reaches 68% of Central Texans in an average week.[3]

Following a national trend among daily newspapers, the Statesman has seen circulation declines in recent years. Austin is one of America's most Internet-connected cities, though not ranked in the 25 largest "connected" cities, and, in a related trend, the Statesman's daily circulation ranks among those cities seeing drops of 5% or more in recent reports.[4] As compared to a U.S. national decline of 2.1%, the Statesman's daily circulation in the most recent six-month reporting period fell 5.6% to 173,527. Its Sunday circulation fell 5.5% to 215,984. Austin is the 11th largest city (and the 35th largest metropolitan area) in the U.S.

Politics

The Statesman endorsed George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections,[5] and Republican governor Rick Perry along with every other Republican incumbent in 2006. In the 2008 presidential election, however, the paper endorsed Barack Obama.[5] The Statesman also provides coverage of the Libertarian Party and Green Party matters.

History

Founded as the tri-weekly[6] Democratic Statesman in 1871, the newspaper was originally allied with the state Democratic party during Reconstruction. It began daily publication as a morning paper in 1873. After absorbing the Austin Tribune in 1914, it published as the afternoon Austin Statesman and Tribune, then became an evening paper and changed its name to the Austin Evening Statesman in 1916.[7]

A rival paper, the morning Austin American, began in 1914. Waco-based newspapermen Charles E. Marsh and E.S. Fentress bought the American in 1919 and the Evening Statesman in 1924. Merged under one company, the morning and evening papers published separately during the week and combined for a Sunday Austin American Statesman edition. The company continued separate titles until 1973, when all products became the American-Statesman, with four editions daily.[7]

Cox Enterprises acquired the Statesman when it bought the Waco newspaper company in 1976. In 1987, the Statesman moved to morning-only publication.[7] In 2008, Cox put the Statesman up for sale with most of its other newspaper holdings in order to pay down debt.[8] A year later, the company pulled the paper off the market, citing a lack of suitable offers.[9]

The newspaper was part of the subsidiary Cox Media Group, which joined the corporation's television, radio and newspaper assets under one umbrella in 2008.[10]

The Statesman was named Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Newspaper of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2016,[11] besting Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.[12][13][14]

In 2015, ¡Ahora Sí! was named the best Spanish-language newspaper in the country for its circulation size by the National Association of Hispanic Publishers.[15]

On March 6, 2018, the sale of the Statesman to GateHouse Media from Cox Media Group was announced.[16] Upon taking over in April, GateHouse said the Statesman would be the "flagship" of the expanding chain, noting its existing 240-employee design and editing hub in Austin.[17]

Newsroom management and staff
  • Executive Editor: John Bridges
  • Managing Editor: Andy Alford
  • Senior editor for digital: Courtney Sebesta
  • Online news editor: Gabrielle Munoz
  • Social media editor: Amanda O'Donnell
  • Senior editor for sports : Jason Jarrett
  • Business editor: Barry Harrell
  • Features editor: Sharon Chapman
  • Austin360 editor: Eric Webb
  • Photo director: Nell Carroll
  • Video editor: James Gregg
  • State editor: Bob Gee
  • Viewpoints editor: Juan Castillo

The newspaper had a full-time arts writer, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, who was hired in 1999. Her post was eliminated in 2016.[18]

See also

Notes
  1. "Total Circ for US Newspapers". Alliance for Audited Media. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  2. "Post Beats News". New York Post. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  3. Archived April 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Archived February 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Weiner, Rachel (October 17, 2008). "Newspapers That Backed Bush Shift To Obama". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  6. Once every three weeks.
  7. Bishop, Curtis; Schroeter, R. L. "Austin American-Statesman". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  8. "Cox to sell off several newspapers, Valpak operations". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  9. "Cox won't sell Austin American-Statesman newspaper". Reuters. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  10. "Cox Enterprises Announces New Business Organization: Cox Media Group". Coxenterprises.mediaroom.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  11. "American-Statesman named Texas' top newspaper".
  12. "2014 Texas APME Awards List". Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  13. "2015 Texas APME Awards List". Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  14. "2016 Texas APME Awards List". Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  15. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/statesmans-ahora-si-publication-wins-multiple-jose/nn8dQ/
  16. "American-Statesman being sold to GateHouse in $47.5M deal".
  17. Shonda Novak; Brian Davis (April 3, 2018). "Statesman's new owner says Austin will be 'a flagship' for media group". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  18. Fares, Robert (November 30, 2016). "Statesman Cuts Arts Staff". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
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