''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 27th largest paper in the U.S. It is distributed in the upper Sacramento Valley, with a total circulation area that spans about : south to

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, north to the

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

border, east to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, and west to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

.History of ''The Sacramento Bee''
from the newspaper's website ''The Bee'' is the flagship of the nationwide McClatchy Company. Its "Scoopy Bee" mascot, created by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

in 1943, has been used by all three ''Bee'' newspapers (in Sacramento, Modesto, and Fresno).

History

Under the name ''The Daily Bee'', the first issue of the newspaper was published on February 3, 1857, proudly boasting that "the object of this newspaper is not only independence, but permanence". At this time, ''The Bee'' was in competition with the '' Sacramento Union'', a newspaper founded in 1851. Although ''The Bee'' soon surpassed the ''Union'' in popularity, the ''Union'' survived until its closure in 1994, leaving ''The Sacramento Bee'' to be the longest-running newspaper in the city's history. The first editor of ''The Sacramento Bee'' was John Rollin Ridge, but

James McClatchy James McClatchy (1824–1883) was an Irish-born American newspaper editor. He was the second editor of '' The Sacramento Bee'', which grew into The McClatchy Company, taking over just days after the newspaper began publication as ''The Daily Bee ...

took over the position by the end of the first week. Also within a week of its creation, ''The Bee'' uncovered a state scandal which led to the impeachment of Know-Nothing

California State Treasurer The state treasurer of California is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the Government of California, government of the U.S. state of California. 34 individuals have held the office of state treasurer since statehood. The incumb ...

Henry Bates. In 1925 it absorbed the ''Sacramento Star'', which was founded in 1904.

21st century

On March 13, 2006, The McClatchy Company announced its agreement to purchase Knight Ridder, the United States' second-largest chain of daily newspapers. The purchase price of $4.5 billion in cash and stock gave McClatchy 32 daily newspapers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million. On February 3, 2007, the paper celebrated its 150th anniversary, and a copy of the original issue was included in every newspaper. On February 4, 2007, a 120-page section was included about the paper's history from its founding to today. In 2008, ''The Sacramento Bee'' redesigned and changed its layout. In the fall of 2020, the ''Bee'' announced it would be vacating its longtime headquarters and printing plant in Midtown Sacramento at 21st and Q Streets (which it occupied since 1952), citing the need to cut costs and streamline in the wake of declining ad revenues, the rise of online journalism and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which most journalists and employees worked from home. The paper began being printed at the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' printing plant in the Bay Area suburb of Fremont. The following spring, the ''Bee'' announced the editorial offices were relocating to the Cannery, a business park about a mile east, at Stockton and Alhambra Boulevards; the business park is the redeveloped Libby, McNeill and Libby Cannery, which operated from 1912 to 1982.

Recognition

''The Sacramento Bee'' has won six

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 ...

s in its history. It has won numerous other awards, including many for its progressive public service campaigns promoting free speech (the ''Bee'' often criticized government policy, and uncovered many scandals hurting Californians), anti-racism (''The Bee'' supported the Union during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and publicly denounced the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

), worker's rights (''The Bee'' has a strong history of supporting

unionization Unionization is the creation and growth of modern trade unions. Trade unions were often seen as a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Socialism, socialist concept, whose popularity has increased during the 19th century when a rise in industrial capit ...

), and

environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

(leading numerous tree-planting campaigns and fighting against environmental destruction in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

Notable people

* Deborah Blum – science writer * Renée C. Byer – photojournalist * Gil Duran – California opinion editor and former Press Secretary for California governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

. * Jack Ohman – cartoonist * Nick Peters – baseball writer * Paul Avery – journalist who reported on the Zodiac killer * Pete Dexter – former columnist, novelist, screenwriter * Nancy Weaver Teichert – former reporter

References

External links

''The Sacramento Bee''

CapitolAlert.com
Capitol politics by ''The Sacramento Bee''
Sacramento Bee
- Sacramento LocalWiki *
McClatchy Company records

Center for Sacramento History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacramento Bee, The Daily newspapers published in California Mass media in Sacramento, California Mass media in Sacramento County, California Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers Newspapers established in 1857 McClatchy publications 1857 establishments in California Newspapers published in California Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners