Lubbock Avalanche Journal
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''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' is a
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 ...
based in
Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...
, United States. It is 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 Lubbock Avalanche'' was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "
Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...
" was chosen due to his desire that the newspaper surprise the citizens of Lubbock. The newspaper was sold to James Lorenzo Dow in 1908. In 1922, the ''Avalanche'' became a daily newspaper (except for Mondays) and a year later added a morning edition. In 1926, the owners of the rival ''Lubbock Daily Journal'', editor Charles A. Guy and partner Dorrance Roderick, bought ''The Avalanche'' to form ''The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.'' The pair partnered with
Houston Harte Robert William Houston Harte was a newspaperman who co-founded Harte-Hanks Communications. Harte was born January 12, 1893, in Knob Noster, Missouri. After a year at the University of California, Harte returned to the University of Missouri, where ...
and Bernard Hanks, later of
Harte Hanks Harte Hanks is a global marketing services company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Harte Hanks services include analytics, strategy, marketing technology, creative services, digital marketing, customer care, direct mail, logistics, and ful ...
, as well as J. Lindsay Nunn of ''The Amarillo Daily News and Post''. In 1928, Guy, Roderick, and Nunn bought control of the ''Avalanche-Journal'' from Harte and Hanks. Guy was named editor and publisher in 1931 of ''The Avalanche-Journal'', a position he held until 1972. Other journalists to serve as editor were Jay Harris, Burle Pettit, Randy Sanders, Terry Greenberg, James Bennett, Jill Nevels-Haun and Adam Young. The ''
Amarillo Globe-News The ''Amarillo Globe-News'' is a daily newspaper in Amarillo, Texas, owned by Gannett. The newspaper is based at downtown's FirstBank Southwest Tower, but is printed at a facility in Lubbock.Tim Howsare, "", ''Amarillo Globe-News'', September 1 ...
'' Publishing Company, headed by Eugene A. Howe and Wilbur C. Hawk, would later own the majority of ''The Avalanche-Journal''. In 1951, the Whittenburg family in Amarillo acquired the ''Avalanche-Journal'', after their Panhandle Publishing Company was merged with Globe-News company. In 1972, both ''The Avalanche-Journal'' and ''The Amarillo Globe-News'' were acquired by
Morris Communications Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications, and online serv ...
of Augusta,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. On Tuesday, May 12, 1970, the day after a massive F5
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
had devastated much of downtown Lubbock—including the Avalanche-Journal building at 8th Street and Avenue J—the newspaper managed to publish an eight-page edition by dictating reports to its sister paper, the Globe-News, in Amarillo, Texas. That morning a print run of 60,000 copies bearing the page-one headline "Twister Smashes Lubbock, 20 Dead, Hundreds Injured," the first printed news of the storm, went out from Amarillo, 100 miles north of Lubbock. The May 13 edition, listing names of the known dead, was published in the same manner, and by May 14 ''The Avalanche-Journal'' was again printed locally. During strikes over crop support prices in 1977, an editorial published in the ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' infuriated farmers, who blockaded the newspaper's delivery docks with their tractors. The unsigned editorial accused farmers of using the "anti-social tactics of union goons." Farmers demanded an apology and formed a tractor blockade, preventing trucks from delivering newspapers. Editor Jay Harris spoke with the farmers and indicated the editorial was not intended to imply that the farmers were goons. In 2008, ''The Avalanche-Journal'' led an investigation into the 1985
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
conviction of
Tim Cole Timothy Brian Cole (July 1, 1960 – December 2, 1999) was an American military veteran and a Texas Tech University student wrongfully convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985. Cole attended two years of college followed by two years of se ...
, a
Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...
student who had died in prison in 1999 at the age of thirty-nine. The A-J's three-part series on Cole's exoneration in light of DNA evidence, "Hope Deferred," helped prompt a legislative ruling in Texas permitting posthumous pardons, and on March 1, 2010,
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...
granted the state's first posthumous pardon to Cole. ''The Avalanche-Journal'' launched a full-color lifestyle publication, ''Lubbock Magazine'', in April 2008. The magazine is published eight times a year. In February 2011, ''The Avalanche-Journal'' became the first media company on the South Plains to launch an application for the iPad. In 2017, Morris Communications sold its newspapers to
GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...
, since rebranded following a merger with Gannett.


Journalists

Journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
who got their start at the ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' include ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...
'' anchor
Scott Pelley Scott Cameron Pelley (born July 28, 1957) is an American author and reporter for CBS News for more than 31 years. Pelley is the author of the 2019 book, ''Truth Worth Telling'', and a correspondent for the CBS News magazine ''60 Minutes''. Pell ...
.


References


Further reading

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External links

* * * * * * * * * * {{Gannett Gannett publications Daily newspapers published in Texas Newspapers published in Lubbock, Texas Newspapers established in 1900 1900 establishments in Texas