The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.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
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
. The newspaper co-sponsors Austin events such as the Capital 10K, one of the largest
10K run
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
s 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
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
.
Circulation
In 2009, the ''Austin American-Statesman'' ranked 60th in circulation among daily newspapers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Figures from Scarborough Research show the ''Statesman'' — in print and online – reaches 68% of Central Texans in an average week.
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. 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
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
) in the U.S.
Politics
''The Statesman'' endorsed George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, and Republican governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...
along with every other Republican incumbent in 2006. In the 2008 presidential election, however, the paper endorsed Barack Obama. The ''Statesman'' also provides coverage of Libertarian Party and Green Party matters.
History
Founded as the triweekly ''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.
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.Cox Enterprises acquired the ''Statesman'' when it bought the Waco newspaper company in 1976. In 1987, the ''Statesman'' moved to morning-only publication. In 2008, Cox put the ''Statesman'' up for sale with most of its other newspaper holdings to pay down debt. A year later, the company pulled the paper off the market, citing a lack of suitable offers.
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.
The ''Statesman'' was named Texas Associated Press Managing Editors' Newspaper of the Year in 2013, 2014, and 2016, besting Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas.
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.
On March 6, 2018, the sale of the ''Statesman'' to GateHouse Media from Cox Media Group was announced. 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.
Becoming a Gannett property
In August 2019, New Media Investment Group, the parent entity of GateHouse Media, announced it had agreed to buy
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.USA Today'', the '' Arizona Republic'', the '' Detroit Free Press'', and several other newspapers), and operations would continue under the Gannett rather than GateHouse name, at the Gannett headquarters outside Washington, DC, but under New Media's CEO. The acquisition of Gannett by New Media Investment Group was completed on November 19, 2019, making the combined company the largest newspaper publisher in the United States. Immediately after the merger was finalized, all GateHouse Media URLs began redirecting to Gannett.com. The ''Statesman'' website was soon redesigned to match the format of the ''USA Today'' website and those of the other Gannett papers.
Community weeklies
The ''Austin American-Statesman'' publishes these community weeklies:
*''
The Bastrop Advertiser
''The Bastrop Advertiser'' is a weekly newspaper covering Bastrop, Texas, and wider Bastrop County. Founded in 1853, it is one of the oldest continually operating weeklies in the state of Texas; and along with papers like the Elgin Courier, is con ...
*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.