Arkansas Gazette
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The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was a
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
in
Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...
, that was published from 1819 to 1991. It was known as the oldest newspaper west of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. 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 Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
. It was Arkansas' first newspaper.


History

The ''Arkansas Gazette'' began publication at Arkansas Post, the first capital of
Arkansas Territory The Arkansas Territory was a territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arkansas. Arkansas Post was the first territo ...
, 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 Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
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 The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30–October 2, 1919 at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine, Arkansas, Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. As many as several hundred African Americans and five White people, white men were kille ...
of 1919, state officials concocted an elaborate cover-up, claiming that blacks were planning an
insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
. 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 The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for Public Service and
Harry Ashmore Harry Scott Ashmore (July 28, 1916 – January 20, 1998) was an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials in 1957 on the school integration conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas. Early life and career Ashmore was born in Greenvi ...
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 The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of ...
''. 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. Walter Edward Hussman Jr. (born January 5, 1947), is an American newspaper publisher and chairman of WEHCO Media, Inc. He is the publisher of the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' in Little Rock, which is the largest newspaper in Arkansas. Hussman dire ...
, owner and publisher of the competing ''Arkansas Democrat''. Hussman renamed the surviving paper the ''
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of ...
.'' 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

* * * * * * *


External links

*
The American Era
at
Historical Marker Database The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org) is an online database that documents locations of numerous historical markers in the United States as well as other countries. The database was launched in 2006 by computer programmer J. J. Prats. The HMd ...
{{Authority control 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