Press Release:
Terence Fitzwater has been named the new editor and publisher of The Kingsville Record as part of the ongoing process to rebuild the more than century-old community newspaper, the Kingsville Area Industrial Development Foundation said in a statement.
Fitzwater has more than three decades in the newspaper industry, including tenures with USA Today and most recently as editor and publisher of the Gonzales Inquirer. He begins in his new role in Kingsville on April 6.
Fitzwater takes over the helm of The Kingsville Record from Tim Acosta, who has spent the past few months helping to stabilize the newspaper after its near closure in early December. Acosta is a resident of Kingsville and graduate of Texas A&M University-Kingsville. His last day with The Kingsville Record is March 27.
“It became apparent to me several weeks ago that the newspaper was in need of a new type of leadership who could help carry it through the next phase of its recovery process,” Acosta said in a statement. “After expressing this to the foundation leadership, the search began for some-one who fit that mold, and I believe they have found just the man for the job in Terence Fitzwa-ter.”
“The newspaper is going through a difficult time – as is each of the communities we cover – with concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. Businesses have been devastated and peo-ple are worried about their families,” Acosta continued. “While our newspaper has been im-pacted financially from the crisis, it is our duty to continue to provide our communities with im-portant information that affects them and to hold government accountable for their actions. I have no doubt The Kingsville Record will continue that mission moving forward.”
“We are excited about Terry joining the team and expect great things from him in the future,” said Brad Womack, president of the Kingsville Area Industrial Development Foundation. “I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest gratitude to Tim Acosta for his tremendous contributions to the Kingsville Record. He came to us in our greatest time of need and stabilized the Kingsville Record during a very tumultuous time.”
About The Kingsville Record
The Kingsville Record got its start on Aug. 19, 1906, two years after the City of Kingsville was founded. That was when the first edition of a four-page weekly newspaper, the Gulf Coast Record, was published.
The Gulf Coast Record was later changed to the Kingsville Publishing Company, which moved
into a new building on Fifth Street in mid-1924 after a fire demolished the newspaper’s original office on Sixth Street. The publishing company later became a wholly owned subsidiary of King Ranch Inc. in 1953. In 1964, the publishing company purchased the Bishop News, a smaller weekly newspaper serving the nearby town of Bishop.
The names of the two community newspapers were briefly merged into the Kingsville-Bishop Record-News before ultimately being revised to the Kingsville Record and Bishop News. In 2020, the name was reverted to The Kingsville Record as it transitioned to new ownership, but maintained the same coverage areas.
The Kingsville Record publishes once a week on Thursdays. It operates under the banner of the non-profit Kingsville Area Industrial Development Foundation.
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