Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) Gannett Company Editor Thomas S. Clifford | Format Broadsheet Publisher Robert Granfeldt, Jr. | |
Founded 1829
(as The Planter's Gazette) | ||
The Montgomery Advertiser is a daily newspaper and 24-7 digital news provider located in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1829.
Contents
History
The newspaper began publication in 1829 as The Planter's Gazette. Its first editor was Moseley Baker. It became the Montgomery Advertiser in 1833. In 1903, R.F. Hudson, a young Alabama newspaperman, joined the staff of the Advertiser and rose through the ranks of the newspaper. Hudson was central to improving the financial situation of the newspaper, and by 1924 he owned 10% of its stock. Hudson purchased the remaining shares of the company in 1935, and five years later he bought The Alabama Journal, a competitor founded in Montgomery in 1889. Ownership of the Advertiser subsequently passed from Hudson's heirs to Carmage Walls (1963), through Multimedia Corp. (1968) to Gannett Company (1995).
The newspaper won the first of its three Pulitzer Prize awards under the direction of Grover C. Hall (1888–1941), who came to the Advertiser in 1910 and served as editor from 1926 until his death. The Advertiser waged war on the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s, and became nationally prominent for the coverage and editorial stance. Hall later argued for release of the black Scottsboro Boys.
One December 1938 editorial by Hall was published in the U.S. Congressional Record on January 17, 1939: "The Egregious Gentile Called to Account". It carried the subtitle: "Clinical notes on his lack of gallantry and sportsmanship, his bad mental habits, his tactlessness, his lack of imagination, his poor discernment, his faults as citizen and neighbor, his gullibility and arrogance." Hall concluded that in order to save "the lovely pillars of civilization we shall have to purge ourselves. That striding Colossus known as the Nordic Gentile must be born again."
Grover C. Hall, Jr. (1915–1971) worked at the paper from age 20 and served 15 years as editor after World War II. He allied with the politician George C. Wallace in 1958.
In 1975, the newspaper investigated the shooting of Bernard Whitehurt by police and wrote news stories that questioned the original police reports.[5] To counter claims that newspaper was fabricating stories, publisher, Harold E. Martin, took and passed a polygraph.[5]
The Alabama Journal continued as a local afternoon paper until April 16, 1993, when it published its last issue before merging with the morning Advertiser.
In October 2008, the Advertiser, which describes itself as having been "the leading newspaper of the new Confederate states", endorsed the presidential candidacy of Illinois African-American Senator Barack Obama.
The Advertiser is the largest of the 22 daily newspapers published in Alabama. Three other newspapers—the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Press-Register (Mobile)—were once larger than the Advertiser but reduced their publications to three days a week. The Advertiser also publishes online at www.montgomeryadvertiser.com and is available via smart phones and tablet apps.
The current (2014) President and Publisher is Robert Granfeldt Jr. Executive Editor is Tom Clifford. Teresa Hicks is the Advertising Director.
Awards
The newspaper has earned numerous state, regional and national awards, including three Pulitzer Prizes: