{{Short description|Texas newspaper}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Austin Citizen | image = | caption = | type = Newspaper | format = Daily (from 1976) Broadsheet | founded = {{start date and age|1964|01|13}} | founder = | general_manager = Thomas Reay | ceased_publication = {{end date and age|1981|10}} | price = 25 cents ({{circa}} 1980) | owners = |political_position = Conservative | publisher = (1964) Young Gentlemen's Excelsior Coffee Colloquium<br />(1965–1971) Colorado Publishers<br />(1971–{{circa}} 1981) Austin Pub. Co. | publishing_city = Pflugerville, Texas (1964–1965)<br />Austin, Texas (1965–1981) | editor = | language = | circulation = 14,500 | circulation_date = 1981 | ISSN = | website = }} The '''''Austin Citizen''''' was a newspaper published in Austin, Texas from 1964 to 1981.
== Overview == The ''Citizen'' readership base was in West Austin, and said to be "well educated, well-to-do, and civic-minded."<ref name="tm">{{cite news |last=Tiede |first=Saralee |date=February 1978 |title=Extra! Austin Gets Newspaper |work=Texas Monthly |volume=6 |issue=2 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60|accessdate=June 1, 2020}}</ref> A commentary in the ''Austin Chronicle'' noted it was editorally "a voice for the conservative and business community", once featuring a column by Ronald Reagan.<ref name="chron">{{cite news|title=Citizen banned|first=Jeff |last=Whittington|work=Austin Chronicle|page=3|date=November 13, 1981|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/download/1981-11-13/chronicle.pdf}}</ref> The paper's financial backers were Republicans.<ref name="reay"/>
==Publication history== The paper began as a weekly paper called '''''The Travis County Citizen''''', based in Pflugerville from 1964 to 1965<ref>{{cite web|title=About The Travis County citizen|publisher=Chronicling America « Library of Congress|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87090918/}}</ref> and then moved to Austin, becoming known variously as '''''The Citizen''''', '''''The Citizen-Guide''''', and '''''Citizen News''''' before it became known as the ''Citizen'' in 1971,<ref>{{cite web|title=About The Austin citizen|publisher=Chronicling America « Library of Congress|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86090341/}}</ref> eventually moving to three-times-weekly publication.<ref name="reay">{{cite news|last=West |first=Richard |title=The Texas Monthly Reporter|work=Texas Monthly|date=April 1976|page=14|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tywEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA14}}</ref>
Upon changing to daily publication schedule on April 1, 1976,<ref name="upi"/> ''Texas Monthly'' noted: "No paper has attempted to go daily in a major Texas city in more than 50 years".<ref name="reay"/> The ''Dallas Morning News'' considered buying the ''Citizen'' in 1979.<ref name="dmn">{{cite news|last=Bloom |first=John |title=Reporter|work=Texas Monthly|date=November 1979|page=123|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JC4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA123 }}</ref> After trying to stay afloat by raising its price to 25 cents and printing in a smaller tabloid format, it folded in October 1981.<ref name="chron"/> At that time, the ''Citizen'' was an afternoon publication issued five days a week with a circulation of about 14,500 and 80 employees; it was led by Thomas Reay as general manager and executive editor with John F. Warren as publisher.<ref name="upi">{{cite web|title=The Austin Citizen, a five-day afternoon newspaper in the...|publisher=United Press International|date=October 30, 1981|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/30/The-Austin-Citizen-a-five-day-afternoon-newspaper-in-the/8519373266000/}}</ref>
==Features and contributors== During its weekly days, the ''Citizen'' featured a front-page column by Wray Weddell, called an "industry-boosting editor" by the progressive ''Texas Observer''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Northcott|first=Kaye|title=Progressive power in Austin|work=The Texas Observer|date=October 17, 1975|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/30223/CASLPP_Reader_1976_Austin_88.pdf}}</ref> Michael Eakin of the counterculture ''Austin Sun'' newspaper opined in 1974 that Weddell had "completely polarized" the issue of economic growth in Austin, saying: "He has people thinking in terms of growth or no growth ... There are alternatives and we want people to be aware of them." Further reflecting on the two newspapers publishing in the city at that time, Eakin noted that "you do not have a paper which deals with primarily local issues read by a really broad-based group of people."<ref>{{cite news|title=News briefs|work=The Rag|page=12|date=October 21, 1974|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BFIGCEE19741021.1.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1}}</ref>
According to a 1978 ''Texas Monthly'' article, however, the ''Citizen'' boasted strong municipal government coverage, with a local public affairs consultant saying the paper "blows the ''Statesman'' away on city reporting", including besting the larger, establishment daily on sewage dumping into the Colorado River, city staffing problems, and misuse of public funds.<ref name="tm"/>
Other ''Citizen'' staff included arts and entertainment writer John Bustin,<ref>{{cite news|title=Austin Citizen to try tri-weekly|first=Greg |last=Olds|work=Hays County Citizen|date=June 13, 1974|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSIlAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5}}</ref> lifestyles writer Carolyn Bengston,<ref name="godwin">{{cite web|title=Robert Godwin: A witness to Austin's social history|first=Michael |last=Barnes|work=Austin American-Statesman|date=August 29, 2015|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=https://www.statesman.com/article/20150829/NEWS/308299745}}</ref> photographer Robert Godwin,<ref name="godwin"/> and editorial cartoonist Roger "Rabbi" Moore.<ref>{{cite web|title="Rabbi" Moore: Cowboy Cartoonist|first=Mike |last=Cox|website=TexasEscapes.com|accessdate=June 1, 2020|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Rabbi-Moore-Cowboy-Cartoonist.htm}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Daily newspapers published in Texas Category:Defunct daily newspapers Category:Defunct newspapers published in Texas Category:1964 establishments in Texas Category:1981 disestablishments in Texas Category:Newspapers established in 1964 Category:Newspapers disestablished in 1981 Category:History of Austin, Texas Category:Newspapers published in Austin, Texas