The Clarion-Ledger
Encyclopedia
The Clarion-Ledger is the Pulitzer Prize
winning daily newspaper of Jackson, Mississippi
. It is the second oldest company in the state of Mississippi
and is one of only a few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating division of Gannett River States Publishing Corporation, which is owned by Gannett Company
.
, in 1837. Later that year, it was sold and moved to Meridian, Mississippi
.
After the American Civil War
, it was moved to Jackson and merged with The Standard. It soon became known as The Clarion.
Four employees who were displaced by the merger founded their own newspaper, The Jackson Evening Post, in 1882.
In 1888, The Clarion merged with the State Ledger and became known as the Daily Clarion-Ledger.
In 1907, Fred Sullens purchased an interest in the competing The Jackson Evening Post, and shortly after changed the name to the Jackson Daily News. It still remained an evening newspaper.
Thomas and Robert Hederman bought the Daily Clarion-Ledger in 1920 and renamed it The Clarion-Ledger.
On August 24, 1937, The Clarion-Ledger and Jackson Daily News incorporated under a charter issued to Mississippi Publishers Corporation for the purpose of selling joint advertising.
On August 7, 1954, the Jackson Daily News sold out to its rival, The Clarion-Ledger, for $2,250,000 despite a then recent court ruling that blocked The Clarion-Ledger owners from controlling both papers. The Hederman family now owned both papers and consolidated the two newspaper plants.
In 1982, Gannett Company
purchased the two daily newspapers. Gannett consolidated them into one newspaper by combining the best features of both into The Clarion-Ledger in 1989, bringing the Jackson Daily News to an end. The purchase of both papers by Gannett essentially created a daily newspaper monopoly in Central Mississippi (Gannett also owns the Hattiesburg American
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
), which still exists today.
, gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, The Clarion-Ledger made short note of the rally but reported the litter-clearance effort the next day under the headline, "Washington is Clean Again with Negro Trash Removed".
Earlier that year, when the Mississippi State University
basketball team was scheduled to play the Loyola University Chicago
Ramblers, whose starting lineup featured four African-American players, in the NCAA tournament, the Jackson Daily News prominently featured pictures of the four black players in an effort to scare the Bulldogs from playing the Ramblers. The ploy backfired, as the Bulldogs ignored the threat and defied an order from the Governor to face the Ramblers, in an important, but often overlooked, milestone of progress in race relations in sports.
The paper campaigned to preserve segregation and referred to civil rights activists as "communists" and "chimpanzees", prompting some in the African-American community to call the publication, "The Klan-Ledger".
When violence, aided by such rabble rousing, took place in Mississippi, the paper sought to put the blame somewhere else. When Byron De La Beckwith
was arrested for killing NAACP leader Medgar Evers
, the headline read, "Californian Arrested in Evers Murder", overlooking the fact that Beckwith had lived in Mississippi almost his whole life.
The paper's rehabilitation regarding civil rights began in the mid-1970s under Rea Hederman. Hederman expanded the staff and news budget. Editors began to pursue promising young reporters, even from other states. To help gain credibility among blacks, who are 79% of Jackson's population, the paper increased coverage of blacks and increased its black staff.
Ronnie Agnew became the Managing Editor in February 2001. In October 2002, he became the paper's first African-American Executive Editor.
for a package of stories on Mississippi's education system.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning daily newspaper of Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
. It is the second oldest company in the state of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and is one of only a few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating division of Gannett River States Publishing Corporation, which is owned by Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
.
History
The paper traces its roots to The Eastern Clarion, founded in Jasper County, MississippiJasper County, Mississippi
-History:Jasper County was formed in 1833 from the middle section of what been Jones County. It was named for Sgt. William Jasper who first distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Moultrie in 1776. When a shell from a British warship shot away the flagstaff, he recovered the flag, raised it on...
, in 1837. Later that year, it was sold and moved to Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
.
After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, it was moved to Jackson and merged with The Standard. It soon became known as The Clarion.
Four employees who were displaced by the merger founded their own newspaper, The Jackson Evening Post, in 1882.
In 1888, The Clarion merged with the State Ledger and became known as the Daily Clarion-Ledger.
In 1907, Fred Sullens purchased an interest in the competing The Jackson Evening Post, and shortly after changed the name to the Jackson Daily News. It still remained an evening newspaper.
Thomas and Robert Hederman bought the Daily Clarion-Ledger in 1920 and renamed it The Clarion-Ledger.
On August 24, 1937, The Clarion-Ledger and Jackson Daily News incorporated under a charter issued to Mississippi Publishers Corporation for the purpose of selling joint advertising.
On August 7, 1954, the Jackson Daily News sold out to its rival, The Clarion-Ledger, for $2,250,000 despite a then recent court ruling that blocked The Clarion-Ledger owners from controlling both papers. The Hederman family now owned both papers and consolidated the two newspaper plants.
In 1982, Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
purchased the two daily newspapers. Gannett consolidated them into one newspaper by combining the best features of both into The Clarion-Ledger in 1989, bringing the Jackson Daily News to an end. The purchase of both papers by Gannett essentially created a daily newspaper monopoly in Central Mississippi (Gannett also owns the Hattiesburg American
Hattiesburg American
The Hattiesburg American is a U.S. newspaper based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, that serves readers in Forrest, Lamar, and surrounding counties in south-central Mississippi. The newspaper is owned by Gannett Company, Inc.-History:...
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
), which still exists today.
Civil rights
Historically, both newspapers—The Clarion-Ledger and the Jackson Daily News—had a terrible civil-rights record, although third-generation family member Rea S. Hederman made a sincere effort to change that. As an example, when 200,000 people marched on Washington in 1963 to urge "jobs and freedom" for blacks and Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, The Clarion-Ledger made short note of the rally but reported the litter-clearance effort the next day under the headline, "Washington is Clean Again with Negro Trash Removed".
Earlier that year, when the Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
basketball team was scheduled to play the Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
Ramblers, whose starting lineup featured four African-American players, in the NCAA tournament, the Jackson Daily News prominently featured pictures of the four black players in an effort to scare the Bulldogs from playing the Ramblers. The ploy backfired, as the Bulldogs ignored the threat and defied an order from the Governor to face the Ramblers, in an important, but often overlooked, milestone of progress in race relations in sports.
The paper campaigned to preserve segregation and referred to civil rights activists as "communists" and "chimpanzees", prompting some in the African-American community to call the publication, "The Klan-Ledger".
When violence, aided by such rabble rousing, took place in Mississippi, the paper sought to put the blame somewhere else. When Byron De La Beckwith
Byron De La Beckwith
Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. was an American white supremacist and Klansman from Greenwood, Mississippi who was convicted in the 1994 state trial of assassinating the civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963....
was arrested for killing NAACP leader Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi...
, the headline read, "Californian Arrested in Evers Murder", overlooking the fact that Beckwith had lived in Mississippi almost his whole life.
The paper's rehabilitation regarding civil rights began in the mid-1970s under Rea Hederman. Hederman expanded the staff and news budget. Editors began to pursue promising young reporters, even from other states. To help gain credibility among blacks, who are 79% of Jackson's population, the paper increased coverage of blacks and increased its black staff.
Ronnie Agnew became the Managing Editor in February 2001. In October 2002, he became the paper's first African-American Executive Editor.
Major awards
In 1983, The Clarion-Ledger won the coveted Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for a package of stories on Mississippi's education system.