The Sacramento Bee
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 The July 27, 2005 front page of The Sacramento Bee |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | The McClatchy Company |
| Publisher | Janis Heaphy (until April 13, 2008); Cheryl Dell (as of April 14, 2008)[dated info][1] |
| Editor | Melanie Sill |
| Founded | 1857 (as The Daily Bee) |
| Headquarters | 2100 Q Street Sacramento, California 95819  United States |
| Circulation | 279,032 Daily 324,613 Sunday[2] |
| Website | sacbee.com |
The Sacramento Bee is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its creation in 1857, the Bee has become Sacramento's largest newspaper, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 25th largest paper in the U.S.[2] It is distributed in the upper Sacramento Valley, with a total circulation area that spans about 12,000 square miles (31,000 km2): south to Stockton, California, north to the Oregon border, east to Reno, Nevada and west to the San Francisco Bay Area.[3][4]
The Bee is the flagship of the nationwide McClatchy Company.[3] Its "Scoopy Bee" mascot[5], created by Walt Disney in 1943, has been used by all three Bee newspapers (Sacramento, Modesto, and Fresno).[3]
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[edit] History
Under the name The Daily Bee, the first issue of the newspaper was published on February 3, 1857, proudly boasting that "the object of [the Sacramento Bee] is not only independence, but permanence."[3] At this time, the Bee was in competition with The Sacramento Union, a newspaper founded in 1851.[citation needed] Although the Bee soon surpassed the Union in popularity, the Union survived until its closing in 1994, leaving the Sacramento Bee to be the longest running newspaper in Sacramento's history.
Although the first editor of The Sacramento Bee was Rollin Ridge[citation needed], James McClatchy took over the position by the end of the first week.
Also within a week of its creation, the Bee uncovered a state scandal which led to the impeachment of Republican California State Treasurer Henry Bates.[citation needed]
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[edit] 21st century
On March 13, 2006, The McClatchy Company announced their agreement to purchase Knight Ridder, the United States' second largest chain of daily newspapers. The purchase price of $4.5 billion in cash and stock will give McClatchy thirty-two daily newspapers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million.[6]
On February 3, 2007 the paper celebrated its 150th anniversary. In every newspaper they included a copy of the original paper. On February 4, 2007 they included a 120-page section about their history from their founding to today.
On July 29, 2008, the paper changed its format. However, the Bee and other McClatchy-owned papers continued to hemorrhage money, going into a tailspin of layoffs; by late August, it cut its workforce by over 55% for the second time.[7]
On May 21, 2009, The newspaper published an editoral that highly criticized Californians for voting against most of the ballot propositions in a special election. After numerous negative comments were posted by readers, the editorial was taken off the website and replaced with a message that said it was posted in error.[8]
[edit] Recognition
The Sacramento Bee has won five Pulitzer Prizes in its history. It has won numerous other awards, including many for its progressive public service campaigns promoting free speech (the Bee often criticized government policy, and uncovered many scandals hurting Californians), anti-racism (the Bee supported the Union during the American Civil War and publicly denounced the Ku Klux Klan), worker's rights (the Bee has a strong history of supporting unionization), and environmental protection (leading numerous tree-planting campaigns and fighting against environmental destruction in the Sierra Nevada). A full list of recent major awards won by the Bee can be found here.
[edit] References
- ^ First-Ever 'Sac Bee' Publisher Heaphy to Be Replaced By Dell, from the Editor & Publisher website
- ^ a b "2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. 2007-03-31. http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-05-29.
- ^ a b c d History of The Sacramento Bee from the newspaper's website
- ^ Profile of The Sacramento Bee from The McClatchy Company website
- ^ Lessons from Scoopy Bee, from Etaoin Shrdlu, the blogspot-based blog for McClatchy editors
- ^ Katharine Q. Seelye and Andrew Ross Sorkin, "Newspaper Chain Agrees to a Sale for $4.5 Billion", The New York Times, March 13, 2006.
- ^ http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003842210
- ^ Patrick Gleason, "Stay Classy Sacramento....Bee", Americans for Tax Reform, May 21, 2009.
[edit] External links
- The Sacramento Bee company website
- The Sacramento Bee local entertainment website
- The Sacramento Bee newspaper website
- The Sacramento Bee pet lovers website
- The Sacramento Bee website for moms to connect with each other
- CapitolAlert.com The Sacramento Bee political website
- Sacramento Bee on the Sacramento Wiki
- Sacramento Bee information on Sactown Media
