''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 27th largest paper in the U.S. It is distributed in the upper

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

, with a total circulation area that spans about : south to

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

, north to the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

border, east to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, and west to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

.History of ''The Sacramento Bee''
from the newspaper's website ''The Bee'' is the flagship of the nationwide

McClatchy Company The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states and ...

. Its "Scoopy Bee" mascot, created by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

in 1943, has been used by all three ''Bee'' newspapers (in Sacramento,

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

, and

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

History

Under the name ''The Daily Bee'', the first issue of the newspaper was published on February 3, 1857, proudly boasting that "the object of this newspaper is not only independence, but permanence". At this time, ''The Bee'' was in competition with the ''

Sacramento Union ''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...

'', a newspaper founded in 1851. Although ''The Bee'' soon surpassed the ''Union'' in popularity, the ''Union'' survived until its closure in 1994, leaving ''The Sacramento Bee'' to be the longest-running newspaper in the city's history. The first editor of ''The Sacramento Bee'' was

John Rollin Ridge John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee name: Cheesquatalawny, or Yellow Bird, March 19, 1827 – October 5, 1867), a member of the Cherokee Nation, is considered the first Native American novelist. After moving to California in 1850, he began to write ...

, but

James McClatchy James McClatchy (1824–1883) was an American newspaper editor. He was the second editor of '' The Sacramento Bee'', which grew into The McClatchy Company, taking over just days after the newspaper began publication as ''The Daily Bee'' in Februa ...

took over the position by the end of the first week. Also within a week of its creation, ''The Bee'' uncovered a state scandal which led to the impeachment of

Know-Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

California State Treasurer The state treasurer of California is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-five individuals have held the office of state treasurer since statehood. The incumbent is Fiona M ...

Henry Bates.

21st century

On March 13, 2006, The

announced its agreement to purchase Knight Ridder, the United States' second-largest chain of daily newspapers. The purchase price of $4.5 billion in cash and stock gave McClatchy 32 daily newspapers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million. On February 3, 2007, the paper celebrated its 150th anniversary, and a copy of the original issue was included in every newspaper. On February 4, 2007, a 120-page section was included about the paper's history from its founding to today. In 2008, ''The Sacramento Bee'' redesigned and changed its layout.

Recognition

''The Sacramento Bee'' has won six

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 ...

s in its history. It has won numerous other awards, including many for its progressive public service campaigns promoting free speech (the ''Bee'' often criticized government policy, and uncovered many scandals hurting Californians), anti-racism (''The Bee'' supported the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and publicly denounced the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

), worker's rights (''The Bee'' has a strong history of supporting unionization), and

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

(leading numerous tree-planting campaigns and fighting against environmental destruction in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

Notable people

Deborah Blum Deborah Blum (born October 19, 1954) is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

– science writer *

Renée C. Byer Renée C. Byer (1958) was born in Yonkers, New York. Since 2003, she has served as the senior photojournalist at ''The Sacramento Bee.'' In 2007, Byer won a Pulitzer Prize for her photo essay "A Mother's Journey". Byer was also a Pulitzer Pri ...

– photojournalist *

Gil Duran Gil Duran was the California opinion editor for ''The Sacramento Bee'' and the former press secretary for California governor Jerry Brown. Duran was previously communications director for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, from 2008 to 2010. He was a ...

– California opinion editor and former

Press Secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dut ...

for California governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

. *

Jack Ohman Jack Ohman (born September 1, 1960) is an American editorial cartoonist and educator. He works for ''The Sacramento Bee'', and previously worked for ''The Oregonian.'' His work is syndicated nationwide to over 300 newspapers by Tribune Media Se ...

– cartoonist *

Nick Peters Nick Anthony Peters (April 1, 1939 – March 23, 2015) was an American sports writer who primarily covered San Francisco Giants baseball games in a career that spanned 47 seasons (1961–2007). He spent the majority of his career on the Giants be ...

– baseball writer *

Paul Avery Paul Avery (born Paul Stuart Depew II) (April 2, 1934December 10, 2000) was an American journalist, best known for his reporting on the Northern California serial killer known as the Zodiac, and later for his work on the Patty Hearst kidnapping a ...

– journalist who reported on the

Zodiac killer The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The case has been described as the most famous unsolved murder case in American history. It became a fixture of popular c ...

* Nancy Weaver Teichert – former reporter

References

External links

''The Sacramento Bee''

CapitolAlert.com

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

politics by ''The Sacramento Bee''
Sacramento Bee
- Sacramento

LocalWiki LocalWiki is a collaborative project that aims to collect and open the world's local knowledge. The LocalWiki project was founded by DavisWiki creators Mike Ivanov and Philip Neustrom and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San F ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacramento Bee, The Daily newspapers published in California Mass media in Sacramento, California Mass media in Sacramento County, California Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers Newspapers established in 1857 McClatchy publications 1857 establishments in California Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners