Arkansas Gazette

The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, that was published from 1819 to 1991. It was known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was located from 1908 until its closing at the now historic Gazette Building. For many years it was the newspaper of record for Little Rock and the State of Arkansas. It was Arkansas' first newspaper.

History

The ''Arkansas Gazette'' began publication at Arkansas Post, the first capital of Arkansas Territory, on November 20, 1819. The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was established seventeen years before Arkansas became a state. When the capital was moved to Little Rock in 1821, publisher William E. Woodruff also relocated the ''Arkansas Gazette''. The newspaper was the first to report Arkansas' statehood in 1836.

Over the decades the paper was bought and sold many times. During the Civil War the paper was even shut down from September 1863 to May 1865. After the war the Gazette became the first newspaper to have telegraphic services from which they began to receive news from places like New Orleans, Louisiana, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri. In 1908 the "Gazette" added colored comics.

After the Elaine massacre of 1919, state officials concocted an elaborate cover-up, claiming that blacks were planning an insurrection. Newspapers, including the Arkansas Gazette, repeated the falsehood that blacks in Arkansas were staging an insurrection: the Gazette wrote that Elaine was "a zone of negro insurrection." Subsequent to this reporting, more than 100 African Americans were indicted, with 12 being sentenced to death by electrocution. After a years-long legal battle by the NAACP, the 12 men were acquitted.

During the Little Rock Nine Crisis the "Gazette" promoted the integration of schools which lost them millions of dollars. But in the aftermath the "Gazette" regained its status. In 1958, the "Arkansas Gazette" was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and Harry Ashmore of the "Gazette" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for their coverage of the school integration crisis in Little Rock.

Through much of its history, the ''Gazette'' was in competition with the ''Arkansas Democrat''. Competition became more intense in 1979 when the ''Democrat'' changed from publishing in the evening to publishing in the morning. After 12 years of bitter competition in the morning, the ''Arkansas Gazette'' published its final edition on October 18, 1991. The assets of the newspaper were sold to Walter E. Hussman, Jr., owner and publisher of the competing ''Arkansas Democrat''. Hussman renamed the surviving paper the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.'' The surviving newspaper proclaims itself a descendant of the ''Arkansas Gazette'', but this viewpoint is disputed by the 726 full-time and 1,200 part-time employees of the ''Arkansas Gazette'' who lost their jobs with the demise of their newspaper, as well as by readers of the "Gazette" who preferred the quality of journalism found in the "Gazette" to that found in the "Arkansas Democrat," even holding a vigil for its demise.

See also

* List of newspapers in Arkansas

References

Further reading

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External links

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The American Era
at Historical Marker Database

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1819 establishments in Arkansas Territory
1991 disestablishments in Arkansas
Defunct newspapers published in Arkansas
History of Arkansas County, Arkansas
History of Little Rock, Arkansas
Mass media in Little Rock, Arkansas
Publications established in 1819
Publications disestablished in 1991
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners
Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers