The ''Ventura County Star'' (Marked online as VC Star) is a daily newspaper published in
Camarillo, California
Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan ...
and serves all of
Ventura County
Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...
. It is owned by
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.John P. Scripps Newspaper Group, 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.
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 ...
,
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 ''D ...
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 ...
in April 2015, and
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. 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 ''
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 ...
'', 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-mo ...
.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.)