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 The July 27, 2005 front page of The Anniston Star | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Consolidated Publishing Co. |
| Publisher | Josephine Ayers |
| Editor | Timothy Cash |
| Founded | 1883 |
| Headquarters | 1118 Noble Street Anniston,Alabama 36201  United States |
| Price | USD .50 daily, 1.00 Sunday |
| Website | annistonstar.com |
The Anniston Star is the daily newspaper servingAnniston, Alabama, and the surrounding six-county region. Average Sunday circulation in September 2004 was 26,747. However, by 2020 it was approximately half of this.[1] The newspaper is locally owned by Consolidated Publishing Company, which is controlled by the Ayers family of Anniston. As of 2020, the paper operated as a "digital-first" publication, and was putting out only three print editions each week.[1]
The paper was first published in 1883 as theAnniston Evening Star. It traces its modern history to 1911, when managing editor Col. Harry M. Ayers left to start his own paper, theAnniston Hot Blast—a nod to Anniston's roots as a steel town. By 1912, theHot Blast had become Anniston's largest newspaper, and was more than large enough to absorb theEvening Star. Although the merged paper was initially called theAnniston Hot Blast and Evening Star, theHot Blast name was eventually dropped. TheStar has been owned by the Ayers family since 1911.[1]
Early on, theStar gained a reputation as one of the few liberal-minded Southern newspapers. It was one of the few progressive Southern papers to supportFranklin D. Roosevelt during all four of his election campaigns. In 1948, it broke with theDixiecrats, who had taken over the Democratic machinery in Alabama, and supportedHarry Truman for president.
H. Brandt Ayers took over the paper from his father in 1965. Under the younger Ayers' watch, theStar reversed its initial skepticism toward theCivil Rights Movement and strongly supported school integration, one of the few Southern papers to do so.George Wallace derisively nicknamed the paperThe Red Star for its support of integration. It has consistently remained one of the more liberal newspapers in a state that has grown increasingly friendly to Republicans.
TheStar is Consolidated's flagship paper. Other newspapers printed by the company includeThe Daily Home, and the weekliesThe Cleburne News, theSt. Clair Times, and theNews Journal.
TheStar is a community newspaper and the dominant source of retail advertising in the region. Its online edition offers the content of the print edition, along with syndicated articles from Consolidated's network papers.
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Anthony Cook, head of theStar's publishing company, announced that the editorial page was to be discontinued. Cook also voluntarily furloughed himself rather than laying off staff.[1]
On January 2, 2018, during theMe Too movement, former publisherH. Brandt Ayers admitted that he assaulted Wendy Sigal in her Anniston home in the 1970s. Wendy Sigal was a reporter who worked at the newspaper in 1973 and 1974. He admitted hespanked her, but it was with the advice of a doctor. Veronica Pike Kennedy said that Ayers spanked her 18 times when she was 20 years old in the Star's newsroom with a metal ruler in 1975 in the presence of a young male employee and Ayers seemed to confirm it.[2]
In March 2019 H. Brandt Ayers resigned as head of Consolidated Publishing after further alleged incidents of misconduct on his part emerged, including further alleged incidents of physical abuse, particularly spanking of female staff. He was replaced by his wife, Josephine Ayers.[3] H. Brandt Ayers died in May 2020.[4]