The ''Ventura County Star'' (Marked online as VC Star) is a daily newspaper published in Camarillo, California and serves all of

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxnar ...

. It is owned by Gannett, the largest publisher of newspapers in the United States. It is a successor to a number of daily newspapers published around Ventura County during the 20th century.

History and ownership

The ''Ventura County Star'' was founded in 1925 by the

John P. Scripps Newspaper Group John P. Scripps Newspapers was an American newspaper chain founded by John P. Scripps, a grandson of E.W. Scripps, in 1928, and headquartered in San Diego. Its newspapers were concentrated in the western United States. The E. W. Scripps Company bo ...

, which merged with E. W. Scripps in 1986. Around 1936, the Star acquired the ''Ventura Free Press'' (which itself was founded in 1875), and began publishing as the ''Ventura County Star-Free Press'' in 1938.

1990s Ventura County "Newspaper Wars"

E. W. Scripps purchased the ''Camarillo Daily News'' in 1992 from Harris Enterprises.Saillant, Kay
Camarillo Daily News to Close in December : Media: The 67-year-old publication will be replaced with a zoned version of the Ventura County Star-Free Press.
Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1993 The daily ''Simi Valley Enterprise'' and the weekly ''Moorpark News-Mirror'' also were acquired in 1992. Scripps also owned the daily ''Thousand Oaks News Chronicle'' Editor & Publisher magazine called Ventura County the "site of one of the hottest newspaper wars in the nation." The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

and the Thomson Newspapers group all published competing Ventura County newspapers. The ''Camarillo Daily News'' stopped publishing in December 1993. The competing Thomson ''Oxnard Press-Courier'' last published on June 14, 1994.Stein, M.L.
California Daily Closes
Two weeklies also closed, were part of the Thomson newspaper chain. Editor and Publisher Magazine, June 25, 1994 The Thomson weekly newspapers, the ''Camarillo Sun'' and ''Ventura Sun'', also ceased publication. The ''Santa Paula Chronicle'' also ended publication. The paper dropped the ''Free-Press'' part of the name in November 1994.

2015 spinoff

Scripps spun out its newspapers to

Journal Media Group Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...

in April 2015, and Gannett acquired the Journal newspapers in April 2016. Daily circulation was reported to be around 45,700 and its Sunday circulation at 58,600.

2018 Office move in Camarillo

After more than 10 years at the 550 Camarillo Center Drive location, the Ventura County Star announced in May 2018 that they were moving to a new office on East Daily Drive in Camarillo.

Leadership

From 1960 to 1987, the editor was Julius Gius.Pioneering Newspaper Editor Julius Gius Dies at Age 84
''

'', October 19, 1996 Later, George Cogswell III was the publisher for five years, leaving in 2012 to be publisher and chief revenue officer of ''

The Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, als ...

'' in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

.BBB Business Review of Ventura County Star
, The Better Business Bureau of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, Inc.Star publisher Cogswell named publisher of Memphis newspaper
''Ventura County Star'', June 21, 2012Scripps announces new publisher of the Ventura County Star
/ref> followed by Shanna Cannon. As of October 2016, the president is Mark J. Winkler.

Incidents

Calvin Sharp murder case gag order

In December 2008, Judge Ken Riley ordered the ''Ventura County Star'' not to print the content of an affidavit, which the public defender representing defendant Calvin Sharp claimed could prejudice potential jurors.Hadly, Scott

''Ventura County Star'', December 11, 2008. ''Riley orders The Star not to publish sealed facts from Sharp documents'' Although unenforceable under the First Amendment by Judge Riley's own admission, he refused to lift the order. This

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

was lifted by Judge Riley by December 15, 2008. A redacted copy of that affidavit was made available on the ''Ventura County Star'' web site.ref link at the time at http://web.vcstar.com/documents/news08/sharpe.pdf "Affidavit in Support of Search Warrant, 397-07" Ventura County Star, December 2008 Judge Riley would step down in January 2009. Sharp's arraignment was delayed until March 2009.Lohr, David
Calvin Sharp Sentenced To Life For Fatal Cleaver Attack On 6-Year-Old Sev’n Molina
Huffington Post, December 6, 2012 Sharp was sentenced to life in prison in 2012.People vs. Calvin Sharp
Ventura County District Attorney, ''Judge finds killer who used meat cleaver sane and sentences him to multiple life terms''

2011 circulation practices

The ''Ventura County Star'' has faced many complaints that involved its circulation practices rather than its editorial content. As of April 2, 2011, the Better Business Bureau listed ten (10) separate "significant" complaints from the previous three years, of which two alleged the company made unauthorized debits from the customers' checking accounts, four alleged problems obtaining refunds, two alleged the company harassed a customer or former customer, two alleged improper billing, and two alleged delivery continued after customers tried to cancel."Significant Complaints"
, The Better Business Bureau of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, Inc. (The number of allegations does not add to the total number of complaints because two of the complaints made multiple allegations.)

References

External links

* {{Gannett Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Mass media in Ventura County, California Companies based in Ventura County, California Gannett publications