 Front page ofThe Sacramento Bee, April 29, 2024 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | The McClatchy Company |
| Editor | Chris Fusco[1] |
| Founded | 1857 (asThe Daily Bee) |
| Headquarters | 1601 Alhambra Boulevard, Suite 100 Sacramento, California 95816 USA |
| Circulation | 30,000 Digital Subscribers[2] 90,244 Daily 142,589 Sunday (as of 2020)[3] |
| ISSN | 0890-5738 |
| OCLC number | 37706143 |
| Website | sacbee.com |
The Sacramento Bee is a daily newspaper published inSacramento, California, in the United States. The paper was founded in 1857 is distributed in the upperSacramento Valley.[4][5]The Bee is the flagship of the nationwideMcClatchy Company.[4] Its "Scoopy Bee" mascot,[6][7][8] created byWalt Disney in 1943, has been used by all threeBee newspapers (in Sacramento,[9]Modesto, andFresno).[4]
On February 3, 1857, the first edition ofThe Daily Bee was published in Sacramento. The paper was the successor to the suspendedCalifornia American. TheBee's first editorial read that "the object of this newspaper is not only independence, but permanence".[10] It was founded by four printers: L.C. Chandler, L.P. Davis, John Church and W.H. Tobey.[11]
The paper immediately faced competition from the olderSacramento Union. Within a week of its creation,The Bee broke its first big news story by uncovering a state scandal which led to the impeachment ofKnow-NothingCalifornia State TreasurerHenry Bates.[12]John Rollin Ridge was the paper's first editor,[13][14] but he soon leftTheBee that July.[15] He went on to edit a Democrat-slanted pro-slavery paper inOroville. Ridge was succeeded atThe Bee byJames McClatchy.[16]
McClatchy became a co-owner on February 12, 1866, and majority stock owner on June 26, 1872. At that time the firm's name was changed to James McClatchy & Co.[17] His sonCharles K. McClatchy soon joined his father as junior partner,[18] and succeeded him upon his death in 1883.[19] C.K. McClatchy foundedThe Fresno Bee in 1922.[20] His brotherValentine S. McClatchy was a co-owner in both papers, but sold out in 1923.[21] C.K. McClatchy bought theSacramento Star fromScripps-Howard Newspapers and absorbed it intoThe Bee in 1925,[22] and also acquired theModestoNews-Herald in 1927,[23] which five years later was renamed toThe Modesto Bee.[24][25] In 1936, C.K. McClatchy died.[26]
Members of the McClatchy family continued to manage the company as it grew to a chain of 12 papers. In 1988, theMcClatchy Company went public to reduce debt, but the family maintained 99% control of the corporation.[27] In March 2006, McClatchy Company purchasedKnight Ridder, the second-largest chain of daily newspapers in the United States, for $4.5 billion. The deal left McClatchy with 32 daily papers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million.[28]
In 2020, McClatchy Company filed forChapter 11 Bankruptcy.[29] The company was then bought for $312 million by Chatham Asset Management, which also ownedPostmedia in Canada. Thus McClatchy family stewardship ofThe Bee ended after 163 years.[30] That fall, the paper announced it will vacate its longtime headquarters and close its printing plant inMidtown Sacramento.[31] Production ofThe Bee was moved to theSan Francisco Chronicle's printing plant inFremont.The Bee relocated its office to the Cannery, a business park occupying the redeveloped formerLibby, McNeill and Libby Cannery.[32]
In 2020,TheBee moved to a six-day printing schedule, eliminating its printed Saturday edition.[33]
The Sacramento Bee has won sixPulitzer Prizes in its history.[34] It has won numerous other awards, including many for its progressive public service campaigns promoting free speech (theBee often criticized government policy, and uncovered many scandals hurting Californians), anti-racism (The Bee supported theUnion during theAmerican Civil War and publicly denounced theKu Klux Klan), worker's rights (The Bee has a strong history of supportingunionization), andenvironmental protection (leading numerous tree-planting campaigns and fighting against environmental destruction in theSierra Nevada).[35]
