The Anniston Star
 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Consolidated Publishing Co. |
| Publisher | H. Brandt Ayers |
| Editor | Bob Davis |
| Founded | 1900 (as The Anniston Republic) |
| Headquarters | 4305 McClellan Boulevard Anniston, Alabama 36202  United States |
| Website | www.annistonstar.com |
The Anniston Star is the daily newspaper serving Anniston, Alabama, and the surrounding six-county region. Average Sunday circulation in September 2004 was 26,747. The newspaper is locally-owned by Consolidated Publishing Company, which is controlled by the descendants of Col. Harry M. Ayers, one of the newspaper's early owners. The Star is Consolidated's flagship paper. Other newspapers printed by the company include The (Talladega) Daily Home, and the weeklies The Cleburne News, The Jacksonville News, and the Piedmont Journal. The current publisher, H. Brandt Ayers, is the son of Col. Ayers. During the civil rights movement, The Star gained a reputation as one of the few liberal-minded Southern newspapers. It was nicknamed "The Red Star" by George Wallace, due to its support of school integration-- one of the few Southern newspapers to take such a stance. Today, however, the Anniston Star is called the Red Star for its leftwing editorial diatribes against anything Republican or GW Bush. H. Brandt Ayers is a self avowed liberal supporter of Hillary Clinton and writes most of the Anniston Star bashing of President Bush under the pseudonym "in our opinion". He also frequently pulbishes editorials that agree with his philosophy from East Coast liberal thinkers. Ayers is also a financial contributor to the liberal group moveon.org.
It was twice named "one of the best" by the Time magazine staff, and was one of only two under 100,000 circulation which made Columbia Journalism Review's list of the nation's top 30 papers. Rick Bragg, author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling All Over but the Shoutin' and a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsman, began his career at The Anniston Star and discusses the newspaper in his book. In August, 2006, it became the nation's only "Teaching Newspaper," offering a Masters degree taught in The Star's newsroom in partnership with the University of Alabama and the Knight Foundation.
External links
  | This article about an Alabama newspaper is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |