The Orange County Register
Encyclopedia
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper
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...

 published in Santa Ana
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...

, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.

The Register is notable for its generally libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

-leaning editorial page. Although it sometimes supports Republican politicians and positions, it is the largest newspaper in the country to have opposed the Iraq war from the beginning and opposes laws regulating issues such as prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

 and drug use
Drug use
Drug use may refer to any drug use; or:* Drug abuse* Drug addiction* Entheogenic drug use* Medication* Performance-enhancing drug use* Recreational drug use* Self medication...

. It was one of a handful of newspapers that opposed the internment of Japanese aliens and Japanese-Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. It also opposed Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (2008)
Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...

 in 2008, which proposed a ban on same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

.

1905–1985: under earlier names

The Register was founded by a consortium as the Santa Ana Daily Register in 1905. It was sold to J.P. Baumgartner in 1906 and to J. Frank Burke in 1927. In 1935 it was bought by R.C. Hoiles, who renamed it the Santa Ana Register and reorganized his holdings as Freedom Newspapers, Inc. in 1950, later Freedom Communications. The paper was renamed The Register in 1952.

In 1956, the newspaper was a prominent supporter of a vociferous campaign by anti-communists against the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act
Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act
The Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956 was an Act of Congress passed to improve mental health care in the United States territory of Alaska. It became the focus of a major political controversy after opponents nicknamed it the "Siberia Bill" and denounced it as being part of a communist...

, claiming that the Act was part of a communist plot to establish concentration camps in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Circulation rose with the burgeoning population of Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 and after The Register added a morning edition in 1959. In 1970 Hoiles' son Clarence became co-publisher with his brother Harry until 1979, when R. David Threshie, Clarence's son-in-law, was named to the position.

Faced with an aggressive push into the county by the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

under then publisher Otis Chandler, Threshie brought in 30-year-old editor N. Christian Anderson III to increase the professionalism of the paper. Political positions were restricted to the editorial page. In 1981, the paper began publishing in full color.

1985–present: as The Orange County Register

In 1985, the paper was renamed yet again to The Orange County Register. In the same year it won its first Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

, for its photographic coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

 in nearby Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. It won additional Pulitzers in 1989 for beat reporting by Edward Humes on U.S. military problems with night vision goggles and 1996 for an investigation into Ricardo Asch
Ricardo Asch
Ricardo Hector Asch is an obstetrician, gynecologist, and endocrinologist who was notable for his work in reproductive technology, in particular gamete intrafallopian transfer...

's fertility clinics.

In 1992, Orange County Register Communications launched Excélsior
Excélsior
Excélsior is a daily newspaper, founded by Rafael Alducin and published in Mexico City since 1917.During the 1950s and 1960s, the newspaper's editorial stance was of a relatively liberal bent, under the editorship of Julio Scherer...

, a Spanish-language weekly. Excélsior
Excélsior
Excélsior is a daily newspaper, founded by Rafael Alducin and published in Mexico City since 1917.During the 1950s and 1960s, the newspaper's editorial stance was of a relatively liberal bent, under the editorship of Julio Scherer...

 currently has a circulation of 51,000 and covers Orange County's burgeoning Hispanic community, which now numbers over 1 million. Julio Saenz is the Editor and General Manager.

In 1999, Threshie became Chairman of the Board for Freedom Communications and N. Christian Anderson III assumed the position of publisher and CEO. Ken Brusic was named vice president of content and executive editor in April 2002.

In 2004, a family schism led to a sale of a majority interest in Freedom Communications to investors led by the Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group L.P. is an American-based alternative asset management and financial services company that specializes in private equity, real estate, and credit and marketable alternative investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions ,...

 and Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...

. Through a stock arrangement, the Hoiles family descendants retained control of the board.

In 2006, Orange County Register Communications launched the OC Post
OC Post
The OC Post was a daily newspaper for Orange County, California, that existed from August 21, 2006 to February 2008. Chartered by Freedom Communications, who also own and operate the Orange County Register, it was an attempt to condense a standard newspaper into a more "modern" tabloid...

, a tabloid with shortened versions of Register stories as well as news articles from the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

. The paper also had its first significant staff reductions in December 2006, with 40 newsroom employees taking buyouts, along with a small number of layoffs.

By April 2007, the Orange County Register had made cuts to help maintain shareholder profit, which had averaged more than 20 percent annually in the preceding five years. Since the launch of the OC Post
OC Post
The OC Post was a daily newspaper for Orange County, California, that existed from August 21, 2006 to February 2008. Chartered by Freedom Communications, who also own and operate the Orange County Register, it was an attempt to condense a standard newspaper into a more "modern" tabloid...

in 2006, OCRC has cut the Register's editorial staff by 10 percent, eliminated its 3-percent holiday bonuses for editorial staff, and postponed pay raises to editorial staff, which had averaged 3 percent annually, for six months. In September 2007, Terry Horne replaced N. Christian Anderson III as publisher.

In June 2008, KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...

 and The Los Angeles Times reported that the Register had even begun a trial of outsourcing layout and editing work to India in order to save costs. In spring of 2009, Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...

 instituted furloughs for all employees nationwide, followed by a permanent 5-percent pay cut starting in July 2009. News reports in August 2009 indicated that Freedom Communications planned to file for bankruptcy and turn control of its publications, including The Orange County Register, over to its lenders.

In September 2009, a column written by sports columnist Mark Whicker caused controversy. In the column, Whicker wrote about various sporting events that occurred over the preceding 18 years, and how they had been missed by Jaycee Dugard, a girl who had been kidnapped, raped, and forced to bear her kidnapper's children. Whicker ended his column with the line "Jaycee, you have left the yard." The column generated widespread criticism and was parodied in blogs such as Deadspin
Deadspin
Deadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views....

, who called it "the single worst piece of journalism ever committed on this page," and the Huffington Post.

External links

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