Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) The McClatchy Company Editor-in-chief Mark Lett | Format Broadsheet Publisher Sara Johnson Borton Founded 1891 | |
 | ||
The State is a daily morning newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina, in the United States. Owned by The McClatchy Company and distributed in the Midlands region of the state, The State is the second largest newspaper in the Palmetto State.
Its news staff was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in general news reporting for its Hurricane Hugo coverage in 1989. Its cartoonist, Robert Ariail, was a Pulitzer finalist in 1995 and 2000. Reporter Gina Smith broke the Mark Sanford scandal story on June 24, 2009 when she interviewed Sanford at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport as he returned from Argentina
According to the newspaper's Web site, it has 440 full-time employees and another 31 who work part-time, not including an on-premises "McClatchy Customer Care Center for subscriber assistance". The State has a 260,000-square-foot (24,000 m2) building completed in 1988, three miles (5 km) south of downtown.
History
The newspaper, first published on February 18, 1891. was founded by two brothers, N.G. Gonzales and A.E. Gonzales. In 1903, N. G. Gonzales was fatally shot by lieutenant governor James H. Tillman, who was later acquitted of murder charges.
In 1945, The State bought its rival, the Columbia Record. The paper's owners diversified in 1971 by founding "State Telecasting Company". State Telecasting purchased three television stations in New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas. KCBD-TV in Lubbock, Texas and its 100% satellite KSWS-TV Roswell, NM were acquired in 1971 for 6 million dollars from the Joe Bryant estate. WUSN-TV in Charleston, SC was acquired and the call letters changed to WCBD-TV to conform with those of KCBD. The paper remained family-owned until 1986, when Knight Ridder purchased The State-Record Co. and six subsidiaries (including the Sun Herald and The Sun News) for $311 million. In 2006, Knight Ridder was purchased by McClatchy.