The Bakersfield Californian

Infobox Newspaper
name = The Bakersfield Californian


caption = The July 27, 2005 front page
of "The Bakersfield Californian"
type = Daily newspaper
format = Broadsheet
foundation = 1866
ceased publication =
price = $.50 Mon-Sat, $1.50 Sun
owners = The Bakersfield Californian
publisher = Virginia F. Moorhouse
editor = Mike Jenner
language = English
political =
circulation = 70,000
headquarters = 1707 Eye Street
Bakersfield, CA 93301
U.S.
ISSN =
website = [http://www.bakersfield.com bakersfield.com]

"The Bakersfield Californian" is the daily newspaper serving Bakersfield, California and surrounding Kern County in the state's San Joaquin Valley.

History

The "Californian" is a direct descendant of the first paper published in the region, The Daily Courier in 1866. The Weekly Courier was published in the mining town of Havilah, California, about 50 miles northeast of Bakerfield. The newspaper moved to Bakersfield in 1872 and changed the name to "The Kern County Weekly Courier". In 1876, the "Courier" merged with "The Southern Californian", another local newspaper, and became "The Kern County Californian". The newspaper's name was changed to "The Daily Californian" in 1891. The Kern County superintendent of schools, Alfred Harrell, purchased the newspaper in 1897, and renamed it "The Bakersfield Californian" in 1907, and ever since then the newspaper has been in the control of the Harrell-Fritts family and is currently run by Virginia F. Moorhouse, who is the great-granddaughter of Alfred Harrell.

Prior to 1980, former Bakersfield Mayor Mary K. Shell worked as a reporter and columnist for "The Californian".

Other Publications

"The Californian" runs several other publications in Kern County including the "Tehachapi News", "Mas", "The Northwest Voice", and "The Southwest Voice". "Mas" is a free, weekly magazine aimed at the large Hispanic population of Kern. The "The Northwest Voice" was a prototype for many hyperlocal news efforts and combines print with online publications, with an emphasis on traditional journalistic reporting. The staff of the "Voice" newspapers consists of only a few editors to look through all of the online submissions and decide which are to be printed.

Awards

In 2004, the paper received the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for its coverage of the stabbing death of an assistant district attorney.

External links

* [http://www.bakersfield.com "The Bakersfield Californian" Online]
* [http://www.bakersfield.com/about_us History of "The Californian"]
* [http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/041026glaser History of the "Voice"]
* [http://payneawards.uoregon.edu/past.php List of Past Winners of the Payne Awards]