Fort Worth Star-Telegram – Providing Daily News for Fort Worth Residents

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Media is an integral part of our daily lives and has a remarkable influence on our community. Through media, we get connected to whatever is happening around us, makes us aware, react appropriately, and deduce solutions to imminent social problems. One of Texas’ prominent media institutions is Fort Worth Star-Telegram, fulfilling the job of providing daily news and public service. It serves residents from Fort Worth, alongside those living in Tarrant County, and North Texas’ western half called Metroplex. In this article, discover more about Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and its rich history and vibrant legacy.

History Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Despite being a “cowboy town” at the shift to the century, Fort Worth already enjoyed facilities and services in other more advanced areas, such as street lighting, water system, cars, police force, fire departments, and access to a library, public schools, colleges, and universities. Come the 1880s and 1890s, Fort Worth continued its positive dramatic change and was ceaseless in moving forward, as reflected by its remarkable commercial and civic development.

In 1905, Fort Worth was set to experience another milestone. Amon G. Carter Sr, a renowned civic booster for the city, agreed to create and finance a city newspaper. With the help of A.G Dawon, D. C. McCaleb, and Col. Louis J. Wortham, the Fort Worth Star had its first issue on February 1, 1906.

While things may seem smooth, it was instead a tough road for Star with their rival, the Telegram, another afternoon paper, overwhelmed and almost putting them into bankruptcy. Thanks to Carter’s heroics and persistent efforts, he secured a second loan from Star’s original financier and took on the bold idea of buying out its main competition. In November 1908, Star bought Telegram for $100,000, followed by a merger at the start of the following year as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.Amon G. Carter Sr, the creator of Fort Worth Star-TelegramBeginning from the Star, the paper used the slogan devised by Carter, “Where The West Begins,” reflecting its colorful heritage linked to the Old West. Today, the same phrase is still utilized on the paper’s masthead.

Under Carter’s management, the Star-Telegram remained true to its objective of being a paper intended for and written about West Texas’ people. For many years, the Star-Telegram didn’t cease on reaching even the most scattered ranches and towns, some even through the use of stagecoaches. With that, the paper was able to serve many counties in Texas, and it became one the biggest newspaper circulation in the South, transcending to West Texas, western Oklahoma, and New Mexico.

In 1922, the paper expanded its medium and began the first radio station in Fort Worth, WBAP, or “We Bring A Program.” Over three decades later, it became the first television station in Texas, WBAP-TV, in 1948, and brought to color in 1954. In 1982, Star-Telegram made another achievement by founding the oldest and longest operating online news service, “Star-Text.”

Front page of Fort Worth Star-TelegramOther notable accomplishments of Fort Worth Star-Telegram include two Pulitzer prizes. The first was the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for Larry C. Price’s photographs in Liberia, capturing a Liberian official killed by a firing squad. The second was the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, through Mark Thompson’s news series exposing a design flaw in helicopters that resulted in the loss of many servicemen’s lives.

In 2006, Star-Telegram won a Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for General Excellence (Class IV), with the award-giving body acknowledging the paper’s breadth and depth. Meanwhile, “Titletown, Tx,” the paper’s video series coveted three Lone Star Emmys in its 2017 edition, under sports, promotion, and photography.

Fort-Worth Star-Telegram Today

Fort Worth Star-Telegram is now under the McClatchy group, which acquired the newspaper from Knight Ridder in 2006 after Star-Telegram Operating, Ltd. sold it to them in 1997. Nevertheless, the paper’s spirited history of innovation across the years has also played a vital role in the city’s development. Today, it continues to provide service and raise Fort Worth residents’ awareness through the cutting-edge production of essential and timely news.

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