{{Short description|Former Arizona newspaper}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Tucson Citizen | logo = Tucson Citizen.gif | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = 1870 | owners = Gannett | headquarters = 4850 South Park Avenue<br />Tucson, Arizona 85714<br /> United States | ceased_publication = May 16, 2009 (print)<br /> January 31, 2014 (online) | editor = Jennifer Boice (final print-edition editor) | publisher = vacant | circulation = 17,000 (May 2009)<ref name="AP-16May09before"/> | ISSN = 0888-5478 | website = {{URL|tucsoncitizen.com}} }}
The '''''Tucson Citizen''''' was a daily newspaper in Tucson, Arizona. It was founded by Richard C. McCormick with John Wasson as publisher and editor on October 15, 1870, as the ''Arizona Citizen''.
When it ceased printing on May 16, 2009, the daily circulation was approximately 17,000, down from a high of 60,000 in the 1960s.<ref name="AP-16May09before">{{cite news|title = 'Tucson Citizen' to cease print publication| date = May 16, 2009| agency = Associated Press via USA Today| url = https://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-05-16-tucson-citizen_N.htm|access-date = 2009-11-19| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090519211517/http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-05-16-tucson-citizen_N.htm |url-status = dead| archive-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> The ''Citizen'' published as Tucson's afternoon paper, six days per week (except Sunday, when only the ''Arizona Daily Star'' (Tucson's morning paper during the week) was published as part of the two papers' joint operating agreement).
The ''Tucson Citizen'' was the oldest continuously published newspaper in Arizona at the time it ceased publication.<ref name="AP-16May09before"/>
==History== Founder Richard C. McCormick had originally been the owner of the ''Arizonan''. However, when the editor of the ''Arizonan'' refused to support McCormick's re-election as congressional delegate for the territory of Arizona, McCormick took the press and started the ''Arizona Citizen'' with Wasson.<ref name="tucson-citizen"/> During the mid-1880s, the newspaper was known as the ''Tucson Weekly Citizen''. Allan Brown Jaynes was owner, manager and editor of the ''Tucson Citizen'' between 1901 and 1920. He was very involved in the statehood of Arizona and is in the Arizona Newspaper Hall of Fame. William A. Small, his wife, and William H. Johnson invested in the newspaper in the late 1930s after the death of owner Frank Harris Hitchcock.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Tucson Citizen timeline| work = Arizona Daily Star| accessdate = 2021-11-10| url = https://tucson.com/business/tucson-citizen-timeline/article_35284a59-4c02-5218-bcb7-f6b3f8df1673.html}}</ref> Johnson sold his share to Small in 1964, and Small turned control over to his son, William A. Small Jr. in 1966 when he retired.
In 1976, the ''Citizen'' was sold to Gannett Company, Inc.<ref name="AP-16May09before"/>
Editor and Publisher Michael Chihak retired from the ''Citizen'' and Gannett on July 3, 2008. Senior Editor Jennifer Boice and Editorial Editor Mark Kimble co-filled the position in the interim, until the end of publication. In January 2009, the Gannett Company, owner of the paper since the mid-1970s, announced it would close the ''Citizen'' by March 21 if a buyer were not found,<ref>{{cite news| title = Tucson Citizen to cease publication March 21 if no buyer found| date = January 17, 2009| work = Tucson Citizen| url = http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/107869|access-date = 2009-11-19| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225212758/http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/107869 | url-status = dead| archive-date=February 25, 2009}}</ref> though on March 17, 2009, Gannett announced the paper would remain open past that closing date because it was in negotiations with two potential buyers.<ref name="AP-16May09before"/> However, those negotiations did not bear fruit, and on May 15, 2009, Gannett announced that the final print edition would appear the following day, and that the ''Citizen'' would thereafter be an Internet publication.<ref>{{cite press release|title = Gannett to cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen|date = May 15, 2009| publisher = Gannett Company| url = http://www.gannett.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=9999100203034|access-date =2009-11-19|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120320022956/http://www.gannett.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=9999100203034|url-status = dead|archive-date = March 20, 2012}}</ref> The last print edition was delivered on May 16, 2009.<ref name="AP-16May09after">{{cite news|last = Rotstein|first = Arthur H.| title = Final Edition of Tucson Citizen Hits the Streets| date = May 16, 2009| agency = Associated Press via Newsvine.com| url = http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/16/2825988-final-edition-of-tucson-citizen-hits-the-streets|access-date = August 10, 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090519031544/http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/16/2825988-final-edition-of-tucson-citizen-hits-the-streets |url-status = live| archive-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref>
Gannett's attempted sale and closure of the ''Citizen'' was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and court action by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}
== Online publication ==
The successor site, TucsonCitizen.com, edited by the paper's former assistant city editor, Mark B. Evans, described itself as "a compendium of blogs . . . written by Tucsonans for Tucsonans. The bloggers and citizen journalists here provide news, information, opinion, commentary and perspective on the issues, interests and events that affect daily life in the Old Pueblo." It was a division of Gannett Company, Inc., and a partner of Tucson Newspapers.<ref>[http://tucsoncitizen.com/about-tucsoncitizencom/ "About Us"], TucsonCitizen.com</ref> The site closed on January 31, 2014.<ref>[http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/blogs/Post?basename=so-long-again-tucson-citizen&day=31&id=TheRange&month=01&year=2014 So Long (Again), Tucson Citizen]</ref>
Several former ''Citizen'' staffers founded TucsonSentinel.com, a nonprofit online news site, after the newspaper was closed.<ref>[http://www.tucsonsentinel.com TucsonSentinel.com]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="tucson-citizen">[https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/453 The Tucson Citizen on the Arizona Memory Project]</ref>
}}
==External links== *[https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/20852 Arizona Citizen on the Arizona Memory Project] *[https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/20850 Arizona Daily Citizen on the Arizona Memory Project] *[https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/20833 Arizona Weekly Citizen on the Arizona Memory Project] *[https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/450 Weekly Arizona Citizen on the Arizona Memory Project] {{Portal|Arizona|Journalism}} *[http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ TucsonCitizen.com]
{{Gannett}}
Category:USA Today Co. publications Category:Mass media in Tucson, Arizona Category:Newspapers published in Arizona Category:Newspapers established in 1870 Category:Online newspapers with defunct print editions Category:Newspapers disestablished in 2009 Category:Defunct newspapers published in Arizona Category:1870 establishments in Arizona Territory Category:2014 disestablishments in Arizona