Today marks a new era for Arizona’s oldest newspaper.
Started in 1870 as a weekly newspaper by John Wasson, the then Arizona Citizen was a Republican counter voice to the Democratic Arizonian weekly newspaper. Just five years after the Civil War, passions still ran high and the conflict of North and South had morphed into a political battle of Republicans and Democrats.
Wasson’s writing style was more akin to today’s blogging than to objective journalism. His stories reflected his political point of view, contained his own personal observations and were laced with opinion that today would be called “editorializing.”
But the paper persevered and grew, eventually dropping the personal views of its writers and becoming Tucson’s leading daily for much of its existence until about the 1970s when readers began to choose a morning paper more frequently than the afternoon Citizen. Circulation declined and in January, the Citizen’s corporate owner, Gannett Co. Inc., decided to cease printing the Citizen.
After months of negotiations with prospective buyers and the U.S. Department of Justice, which had an amount of regulatory oversight of the Citizen’s operating agreement with the Arizona Daily Star, Gannett on May 16 decided to cease printing a newspaper but continue the Citizen’s Web site as a home for opinion and commentary.
So now the Citizen has come full circle, returning in a fashion to the personal journalism of its founder. This new site will serve as The Voice of Tucson, providing a forum for Tucson-area residents to express their views on the issues of the day.
It’s a brave new world and myself and Ryn Gargulinski, who have been chosen to oversee this new version of the Citizen, will work hard to make sure it plays a relevant role in providing perspective and understanding on matters that affect people’s lives.
The site will be more than just debates over politics and government, but advice and discussion on all manner of things affecting the lives of our neighbors. It will have information on the arts, science, Veterans’ affairs, health and more.
In the end, it is our hope that you find the site useful, in one manner or another. If not, let us know and we’ll work to change it.
If you have a blog, or have a good idea for a blog, and want to blog at TucsonCitizen.com, contact either me, mevans@tucsoncitizen.com, or Ryn, rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.