} ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the '' Indianapolis News'' ceased publication. It won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2021 and the

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...

twice, in 1975 and 1991. It is currently owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

History

''The Indianapolis Star'' was founded on June 6, 1903, by Muncie industrialist George F. McCulloch as competition to two other

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

dailies, the '' Indianapolis Journal'' and the ''Indianapolis Sentinel''. It acquired the ''Journal'' a year and two days later, and bought the ''Sentinel'' in 1906. Daniel G. Reid purchased the ''Star'' in 1904 and hired John Shaffer as publisher, later replacing him. In the ensuing court proceedings, Shaffer emerged as the majority owner of the paper in 1911 and served as publisher and editor until his death in 1943. Central Newspapers, Inc. and its owner, Eugene C. Pulliam—maternal grandfather of future Vice President

Dan Quayle James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party (United States), ...

—purchased the ''Star'' from Shaffer's estate on April 25, 1944, and adopted initiatives to increase the paper's circulation. In 1944, the ''Star'' had trailed the evening '' Indianapolis News'' but by 1948 had become Indiana's largest newspaper. In 1948, Pulliam purchased the ''News'' and combined the business, mechanical, advertising, and circulation operations of the two papers, with the ''News'' moving into the ''Star's'' building in 1950. The editorial and news operations remained separate. Eugene S. Pulliam took over as publisher upon the death of his father in 1975, a role he retained until his own death in 1999. In September 1995, the newsroom staffs of the ''Star'' and the ''News'' merged. In 1999, the ''News'' ceased publication, leaving the ''Star'' as the only major daily paper in Indianapolis. Soon thereafter the trustees of Central Newspapers, Inc., the owner of the ''Star'' and other newspapers in Indiana and Arizona, began investigating the sale of the small chain to a larger entity. In 2000, the Gannett Company acquired the paper, amongst others when it purchased the firm "Central Newspapers" for $2.6 billion, leaving Indianapolis with no locally owned newspaper other than the ''

Indianapolis Recorder The ''Indianapolis Recorder'' is an American weekly newspaper based in Indianapolis, Indiana. First published in 1895, the ''Recorder'' is the longest-running African-American newspaper in Indiana and fourth in the U.S. History The newspaper ...

'', a weekly mainly circulated in the African-American community. On July 27, 2012, it was announced that ''The Indianapolis Star'' would relocate from its headquarters at 307 North Pennsylvania Street. It was later announced that the new location would be the former Nordstrom department store in Circle Centre Mall. This move took place from the summer to fall of 2014. The former location had been used since 1907. After Larry Nassar, USA Gymnastics national team osteopathic physician, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison in January 2018 for sexually abusing female athletes, the prosecutor in the case specifically praised ''The Indianapolis Star'' for uncovering Nassar's decades-long history of abuse. The ''Star'' began its investigative reporting into Nassar and USA Gymnastics in 2016 and published its first related article in August 2016 when it shed light on USA Gymnastics' failure to properly investigate credible complaints of sexual abuse or pass the complaints on to police. After the August 2016 story, one of Nassar's victims, Rachael Denhollander, approached the Star about Nassar and USA Gymnastics' failure to investigate her complaint about him. This resulted in a September 2016 story on Nassar specifically. After the Nassar story, the ''Star'' was approached by many of Nassar's victims who shared similar stories of abuse. Nassar was charged with criminal sexual conduct in November 2016.

Pulitzer Prizes

The ''Star'' has won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

once for national reporting and twice for investigative reporting. In 1975, the ''Star'' was honored for its 1974 series on

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

within the Indianapolis Police Department. It was cited again in 1991 for its 1990 series on medical malpractice. In 2021, the ''Star'' was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for an investigation into attacks by police K-9 units.

Production facilities

The ''Indianapolis Star'' at one time had the largest and most advanced printing presses in the nation. The Pulliam Production Center at 8278 N. Georgetown Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis cost $72 million and covers . It opened in November 1995 as a packaging center and started printing numerous newspapers including ''Indianapolis Star'' in 2001. The press hall that houses the four MAN Roland Geoman presses has on two levels. Each of the presses weighs , stands seven stories tall, and can print 75,000 papers an hour. In January 2023, Gannet laid off 50 employees at the Pulliam Production Center. At the time the facility employed 145 people. A year later Gannet announced the center would close April 9 and printing of the ''Indianapolis Star'' will move to the company's press site in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

Sections

Part of the newspaper's masthead displays the text of 2 Corinthians 3:17: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Monday through Saturday *Section A – National and world news, business, editorial *Section B - USA TODAY *Section C – Metro+State - metro and state news, obituaries, classified ads (except on Wednesdays), weather *Section D - Sports (with 1 sports columnist Gregg Doyel) *Section E - (Wednesday) Classified ads, with none in section C; (Friday) Taste, which also includes movie listings *Section F – Extra (puzzles, advice, comics, television) *Local Living - (Thursdays only) things to do, community content ''The Sunday Star'' *Section A – National and world news, job classifieds *Section B - USA TODAY *Section C – Metro+State - metro and state news, obituaries, editorial, weather *Section D – Sports *Section E – Business, classified ads *Section F - Home+Garden powered by Home Finder *Section G - Indy Living (arts and entertainment, health, puzzles, etc.) *Section U - USA TODAY Life Sunday *Comics – Sunday comics

References

External links