Merced Sun-Star

In 1862, Robert Johnson Steele, a newspaper publisher who fought in the Mexican–American War as part of the 1st Mississippi Rifles,^[2] and his wife Rowena Granice Steele published the first newspaper in Merced County called the Merced Banner. The paper operated for two years until Union soldiers destroyed it in 1864.^[3] A year later P.D. Wigginton and J.W. Robertson established the Weekly Merced Herald. The Democratic paper was politically Copperhead.^[4] The Steeles returned to Snelling in 1868 to revive the Herald after it ceased.^[5] R.J. Steele relaunched the paper on August 28, 1869 as the San Joaquin Valley Argus, writing the Herald had "died by termination of contract."^[6]

The Argus relocated to Merced on April 5, 1873, after the county seat was moved to that city.^[3] A mob destroyed the paper's office in December 1874 after R.J. Steele's stepson, Harry Hale Granice, fatally shot Edward Madden, editor of the Merced Tribune.^[7][8] The Argus then went on hiatus from Dec. 5, 1874 to March 5, 1875.^[3] Granice wrote a booklet on the shooting while in jail called "Hunted Down; or, Five Days in the Fog."^[9][10] He was founded guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison,^[11] but the California Supreme Court granted him a new trial.^[12] A jury convicted him a second time, but the supreme court reversed the decision and released Granice,^[13] who went on to buy the Sonoma Index.^[14]

A rival paper was launched on June 17, 1880, called the Merced Star. It was founded by brothers Thomas and Charles Harris.^[15][3] The Steeles launched a daily edition called the Merced Daily Argus on Oct. 4, 1886.^[3] Mr. Steele died in January 1890.^[2] Mrs. Steele retired in June 1890, leaving their son Lee R. Steele as the sole proprietor and editor.^[16] In December 1889, J.O. Blackburn started the Merced Journal.^[17] In December 1890, the Steele family sold the Argus to Justus Hubbard Rogers and Charles Daniel Radcliffe.^[3] In January 1891, Rogers and Radcliffe acquired the Journal and merged it with the Argus to form the Merced County Sun.^[18][3] Rogers soon sold out to Willard Beebe,^[19] who in turn sold out to Radcliffe in 1893. Beebe went on to own the Los Banos Enterprise.^[3] Radcliffe's brother Corwin Radcliffe joined the paper in 1895.^[3] Star co-owner Thomas Harris died in 1897.^[20] Sun co-owner C.D. Radcliffe died in 1919,^[21] and Urban J. Hoult then became a partner at the Sun.^[22]

In 1921, Charles Harris sold the Star to Walter H. Killam.^[23] In 1924, Sun co-owner Hoult died.^[24] In 1925, Peter McClung and his two sons Ray and Hugh McClung bought the Merced Evening Sun and Merced Morning Star and merged them together to form the Merced Sun-Star.^[25] In 1941, Dean Lesher, publisher of the Fremont Tribune in Nebraska, bought the Sun-Star from the McClung family.^[26][27] Lesher died in 1993.^[28] Two years later, Lesher Newspapers, Inc. sold the Sun-Star, Madera Tribune, and several other papers to USMedia Group, Inc., of Crystal City, Missouri.^[29] In 2004, the paper was acquired by The McClatchy Company.^[30][31]

In July 2024, the newspaper announced it will decrease the number of print editions to three days a week: Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.^[32]

In 2010, the newspaper won a Associated Press Managing Editors Association award in the First Amendment category for a series of stories exposing racist emails sent by an Atwater city councilman.^[33]

The Merced Sun-Star also publishes other weekly newspapers, including:

• Atwater Signal
• Chowchilla News
• Livingston Chronicle