Republican-American
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Republican-American | |
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 The December 22, 2006 front page of the Republican-American |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | American-Republican Inc. |
| Publisher | William J. Pape II |
| Editor | Jonathan Kellogg |
| Founded | |
| Headquarters | 389 Meadow Street, Waterbury, Connecticut 06722-2090  United States |
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| Website: www.rep-am.com | |
The Republican-American, headquartered in Waterbury, Connecticut is the United States' 193rd-largest newspaper (as of September 2005) with an average Sunday circulation of 61,100.[1] It was distinguished in 1940 with a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service "for its campaign exposing municipal graft" which is on public display.
The name resulted from the merger of two newspapers in the early 1990s — the American and the Republican — by their owner, William J. Pape. The newspaper was founded and is still controlled by the Pape family through a holding company, American-Republican Inc., with William J. Pape II serving as current publisher. The executive editor is Jonathan F. Kellogg.
The newspaper is made up of more than 40 reporters covering Greater Waterbury, the Naugatuck River Valley, Pomperaug and the Litchfield area. More than 50 towns are included in the newspaper's coverage area.
The paper is located at 389 Meadow Street in Waterbury.
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[edit] Editorial stance
The Republican-American has a right wing editorial stance. It has accused Senator Chris Dodd of being "chief apologist for the communist tyrants,"[2], Senate candidate Ned Lamont of being a Stalinist,[3] and claimed "Marxists-Socialists" control the Democratic Party.[1] It frequently editorializes against gays and lesbians, liberals, environmentalists, teachers, unions, Democrats and perceived Communists (c.f. [4][not in citation given]).
The newspaper trade publication Editor & Publisher criticized the Republican-American's editorial page for its "McCarthyism" and "red-baiting", and for an August 2005 editorial, "Is New Orleans Worth Reclaiming?" which called for the abandonment of New Orleans post-Katrina.[2]
The New Orleans Times-Picayune criticized the Republican-American in an editorial titled "Yes, We're Worth It", labeling the Waterbury paper "heartless" and asking "How dare they?"[2]
In response to 33 anti-gay editorials and opinion pieces published by the Republican-American between 2004 and 2006,[citation needed] residents of Washington, Connecticut, asked the local board of selectmen [5][not in citation given] to stop publishing legal notices [6] in the paper.
The Republican-American has also been critical of investment in mass transportation [7]. Its headquarters are located alongside the city's Metro-North Railroad station, and actually in the beautiful Mead, McKim, and White-designed building that formerly served as the city's railroad station.
Fiscal conservative groups such as the Club for Growth have, on the other hand, supported much of the paper's editorial agenda. [8]
The paper's main competitors are the Connecticut Post and the New Haven Register, and both of these papers have made significant inroads into the Waterbury market.
[edit] Diversity
According to a 2005 study that was funded --- but not conducted -- by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 97.2% of the Republican-American's newsroom staff in 2005 were white. The foundation awarded the paper a 16 on its Diversity Index, which ranks newspapers by the diversity of their newsroom staff in comparison to the diversity of the communities which they serve. The study found that the Republican-American ranked 84th out of a total of 90 peer newspapers on its diversity index.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ Editorial, Republican-American (Waterbury, Conn.) - April 19, 2006
- ^ a b Greg Mitchell, "A Connecticut Yankee in Joe Stalin's Court: Painting Ned Lamont 'Red'", Editor & Publisher, August 15, 2006.
