Monroe News Star
Encyclopedia
The News-Star is the principal newspaper
of Monroe
and northeastern Louisiana
. Its circulation area ranges over some dozen parishes from Ruston
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, on the west, to Tallulah
in Madison Parish on the east, to the Arkansas
state line on the north, and to Ferriday
in Concordia Parish on the south. The newspaper is a Gannett Company
publication.
(1859–1931), while still the publisher of the since defunct New Orleans Daily States, purchased the Shreveport Times. In 1929, Ewing bought the since defunct Monroe Morning World. In 1930, he acquired the News-Star, since switched from an afternoon to a morning publication. Ewing was accordingly among the two or three most influential persons in the Louisiana journalism
community.
The two Monroe newspapers remained in the Ewing family until the Gannett acquisition on June 16, 1977. The Morning World and News-Star consolidated on August 4, 1980, to become The News-Star-World. The name was later changed and the first edition of The News Star was printed on May 22, 1988.
John D. Ewing
(1892–1952), one of the five sons of Robert Ewing, was editor
and publisher of the Shreveport Times and the Monroe News-Star-World from 1931 until his death. John Ewing moved to Shreveport
in 1915 to become the associate publisher of the Shreveport Times. When his father died, Ewing became the publisher of the Shreveport Times and both Monroe papers. All three newspapers were known for their conservative editorials.
Robert Ewing, III
(1935–2007), a nephew
of John Ewing, was a nature photographer and served as a News Star board member.. Another Ewing relative, Edmund Graves Brown
(1921–2008), was a News Star executive who served as the assistant general manager until Gannett, an Arlington, Virginia, firm, purchased the combined News-Star-World. In 1980, “World” was dropped from the name, which became the News Star, without a hyphen
.
The News Star usually endorses conservative candidates. In 2004, it supported successful Republicans
Rodney Alexander
for the United States House of Representatives
and David Vitter
for the United States Senate
. In 2007, the paper endorsed Royal Alexander
, a former Rodney Alexander staff member (no relation), who unsuccessfully carried the Republican Party
banner for Louisiana attorney general
in the 2007 elections. Royal Alexander of Shreveport was handily defeated by Buddy Caldwell
of Tallulah, after incumbent
Charles Foti
was eliminated in the first round of balloting.
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
of Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
and northeastern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Its circulation area ranges over some dozen parishes from Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, the seat of Lincoln Parish, on the west, to Tallulah
Tallulah, Louisiana
Tallulah is a city in and the parish seat of Madison Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 9,189 at the 2000 census...
in Madison Parish on the east, to the Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
state line on the north, and to Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
in Concordia Parish on the south. The newspaper is a 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...
publication.
History
The News Star began in 1890 as the Monroe Evening News. In 1909, the Evening News merged with the Daily Star to form the afternoon newspaper, the Monroe News-Star. In 1908, Robert Wilson Ewing, IRobert Ewing (newspaper publisher)
Robert Wilson Ewing, I, also known as Colonel Ewing , was a prominent newspaper journalist, editor, and publisher and political figure, primarily in Louisiana, in the last two decades of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century.Ewing was born in Mobile, Alabama, to James Lindsay...
(1859–1931), while still the publisher of the since defunct New Orleans Daily States, purchased the Shreveport Times. In 1929, Ewing bought the since defunct Monroe Morning World. In 1930, he acquired the News-Star, since switched from an afternoon to a morning publication. Ewing was accordingly among the two or three most influential persons in the Louisiana journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
community.
The two Monroe newspapers remained in the Ewing family until the Gannett acquisition on June 16, 1977. The Morning World and News-Star consolidated on August 4, 1980, to become The News-Star-World. The name was later changed and the first edition of The News Star was printed on May 22, 1988.
John D. Ewing
John D. Ewing
John Dunbrack Ewing, Sr. , was a Louisiana journalist who served as editor and publisher of both the Shreveport Times and the Monroe News-Star-World from 1931 until his death. He was also affiliated with radio station KWKH in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana...
(1892–1952), one of the five sons of Robert Ewing, was editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
and publisher of the Shreveport Times and the Monroe News-Star-World from 1931 until his death. John Ewing moved to Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
in 1915 to become the associate publisher of the Shreveport Times. When his father died, Ewing became the publisher of the Shreveport Times and both Monroe papers. All three newspapers were known for their conservative editorials.
Robert Ewing, III
Robert Ewing, III
Robert Wilson Ewing III , was a sports and underwater photographer for the Monroe News Star in Monroe, Louisiana. According to his obituary, Ewing performed free-lance work for National Geographic and the naturalist Jacques Cousteau...
(1935–2007), a nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
of John Ewing, was a nature photographer and served as a News Star board member.. Another Ewing relative, Edmund Graves Brown
Edmund Graves Brown
Edmund Graves Brown, Jr. was an American newspaper executive and a prominent member of the Ewing newspaper family of Louisiana. In 1952, after the deaths of two Ewing brothers, John D. Ewing and Wilson Ewing, Brown joined the management of the then family-owned Monroe News Star in Monroe, the seat...
(1921–2008), was a News Star executive who served as the assistant general manager until Gannett, an Arlington, Virginia, firm, purchased the combined News-Star-World. In 1980, “World” was dropped from the name, which became the News Star, without a hyphen
Hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer...
.
The News Star usually endorses conservative candidates. In 2004, it supported successful Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Rodney Alexander
Rodney Alexander
Rodney McKinnie Alexander is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district covers twenty-two parishes in roughly the northeast quadrant of the state...
for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and David Vitter
David Vitter
David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...
for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. In 2007, the paper endorsed Royal Alexander
Royal Alexander
Richard Royal Alexander is an attorney from Shreveport, Louisiana. In 2007, he was the Republican-endorsed candidate for Louisiana Attorney General. A first-time candidate for public office, Alexander finished second to James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, a Democrat, in the nonpartisan blanket primary...
, a former Rodney Alexander staff member (no relation), who unsuccessfully carried the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
banner for Louisiana attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
in the 2007 elections. Royal Alexander of Shreveport was handily defeated by Buddy Caldwell
Buddy Caldwell
James David Caldwell, Sr., or Buddy Caldwell , is the Republican attorney general of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Prior to serving as attorney general, Caldwell was the district attorney for Madison, East Carroll, and Tensas parishes from 1979 to 2008...
of Tallulah, after incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Charles Foti
Charles Foti
Charles Carmen Foti, Jr. , is a former Democratic Attorney General of the U.S. state of Louisiana, United States. He served as his state's chief legal officer for a single term from 2004 to 2008....
was eliminated in the first round of balloting.
Notable staff members
- Charles E. Bever, former managing editor and later Gannett executive, now in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
- Sam Hanna, Sr.Sam HannaSamuel Andrew Hanna, Sr., known as Sam Hanna , was a Louisiana journalist who owned and published three newspapers: The Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, the Franklin Sun in Winnsboro, and The Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe.-Early years and education:Hanna was born in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin...
(1933–2006), former political editor; later publisher of Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe, Franklin Sun in WinnsboroWinnsboro, LouisianaWinnsboro is a city in and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of July 2009, the estimated city population was 4,377...
, and Concordia Sentinel in FerridayFerriday, LouisianaFerriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census.... - Greg Hilburn, News Star political reporter
- Wiley W. HilburnWiley W. HilburnWiley Wilson Hilburn, Jr. , is a prominent journalist in Ruston, Louisiana, whose communications career began in the late 1950s when he was a student at Louisiana Tech University. In 1968, at the age of thirty, Hilburn returned to his alma mater to chair the Journalism Department and serve as...
, former staffer and long-term head of the Journalism Department at Louisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston - Kathy Spurlock, executive editor who began career at News Star as cub reporter