The July 25, 2010 front page of The Arizona Republic |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Gannett Company |
| Publisher | John Zidich |
| Editor | Randy Lovely |
| Founded | 1890 (as The Arizona Republican) |
| Headquarters | 200 East Van Buren Street Phoenix, Arizona 85004 United States |
| Circulation | 433,731 Daily 541,757 Sunday[1] |
| Official website | azcentral.com |
The Arizona Republic is a daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. It was ranked tenth in US daily newspapers by circulation in 2007.[1]
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The newspaper was founded May 19, 1890, under the name The Arizona Republican.[2]
Dwight B. Heard, a Phoenix land and cattle baron, ran the newspaper from 1912 until his death in 1929. The paper was then run by two of its top executives, Charles Stauffer and W. Wesley Knorpp, until it was bought by Midwestern newspaper magnate Eugene C. Pulliam in 1946. Stauffer and Knorpp had changed the newspaper's name to The Arizona Republic in 1930, and also had bought the rival Phoenix Evening Gazette and Phoenix Weekly Gazette, later known, respectively, as The Phoenix Gazette and the Arizona Business Gazette.
Pulliam, who bought the two Gazettes as well as the Republic, ran all three newspapers until his death in 1975 at the age of 86. A strong period of growth came under Pulliam, who imprinted the newspaper with his conservative brand of politics and his drive for civic leadership. Pulliam was considered one of the influential business leaders who created the modern Phoenix area as it is known today.
Pulliam's holding company, Central Newspapers, Inc., as led by Pulliam's widow and son, assumed operation of the Republic/Gazette family of papers upon the elder Pulliam's death. The Phoenix Gazette was closed in 1997 and its staff merged with that of the Republic. The Arizona Business Gazette is still published to this day.
In 1998, a weekly section geared towards college students, "The Rep", went into circulation. Specialized content is also available in the local sections produced for many of the different cities and suburbs that make up the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Central Newspapers was purchased by Gannett in 2000, bringing it into common ownership with USA Today and the local Phoenix NBC television affiliate, KPNX. The Republic and KPNX combine their forces to produce their common local news website, www.azcentral.com. It is the most-visited site in the state of Arizona and is among the most-trafficked newspaper websites in the U.S.
Notable figures include Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Steve Benson and Luis Manuel Ortiz, the only Hispanic member of the Arizona Journalism Hall of Fame. One of Arizona's best-known sports writers, Norm Frauenheim, retired in 2008. Multiple staff members have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
An investigative reporter for the newspaper, Don Bolles, was the victim of a car bombing on June 2, 1976, dying eleven days afterward. He had been lured to a meeting in Phoenix in the course of work on a story about corruption in local politics and business and the bomb detonated as he started his car to leave. Retaliation against his pursuit of organized crime in Arizona is thought to be a motive in the murder.
The Arizona Republic editorial board endorsed President George W. Bush in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. In local elections, it has recently endorsed Democratic candidates such as former Arizona Governor and now Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and former Arizona Congressman Harry Mitchell. On October 25, 2008, the paper endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain[3] for president.