When Arizona became a state, the Arizona Daily Star was owned by the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co.
The mining company purchased the newspaper in 1910 - the same year Arizona became the nation's leading copper producer.
(The Copper Queen eventually became part of the Phelps-Dodge Corp., which was acquired in 2007 by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold.)
The years from 1910 to 1924 became known as the period that the Star wore a copper collar. It was a label that was to haunt the newspaper for years.
News and feature policy was slanted on subjects important to the mining interests.
Many believed the newspaper became an organ for the mining interests, and for the old El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, which James Douglas' mining interests had built.
Douglas was manager of the Copper Queen and later president of Phelps-Dodge.
Journalism of the period was highly personalized, and editors were not above using their influence for the most personal of motives.
One oft-told story is that the copper company produced a list of persons whose names were not to be published so long as P-D owned the paper.
Source: The History of the Arizona Daily Star, published on April 3, 1977.
Please Wait…