About Us
Mission Statement
We are our marketƵs dominant provider of relevant and compelling content.
We deliver timely and accurate information to consumers, and we deliver targeted audiences to advertisers across multiple mediums.
We value honesty, fairness, respectfulness, and service to our community.
Victoria Advocate journalists adhere to the Society of Professional JournalistsƵ code of ethics. Our family-owned newspaper also uses an ethics board to review the important and difficult decisions journalists face regularly in their pursuit of the truth. To contact the ethics board, email ethicsboard@vicad.com.
The Victoria Advocate was founded in 1846, which makes it Texas' second oldest newspaper. We're an independent regional media company and the areaƵs premier information and advertising source.
We deliver results for our advertising partners. The Audit Bureau of Circulations (now Alliance for Audited Media) latest report is in and we still deliver impressive readership. The Victoria Advocate is read by 76,388 adults in the Victoria market Monday through Saturday and 94,330 on Sunday.1
A research study by Frank N. Magid Associates Publishing Division (formerly MORI Research) indicates that Victoria area residents rate Advocate Media as the top source for community news and information and -- by the largest margin -- for local advertising and shopping information.
The inaugural edition of the Advocate was printed May 8, 1846. An extra edition was published that day to inform local citizens of the battle of Palo Alto, the first battle in the Mexican War. The Advocate was first delivered by horseback to points such as Gonzales, New Braunsfels, and San Antonio. Later it was sent by stagecoach when Victoria became the headquarters for three stagecoach lines.
The newspaper's first publishers were Thomas Sterne and John David Logan. Both experienced newspapermen, they changed the name of the paper in its first year from ƵTexan AdvocateƵ to "Texian Advocate" in response to requests from Texas pioneers. Sterne and Logan sold the newspaper in 1853.
Later editors and publishers included Sam Addison White, Victor Marion Rose, Frank R. Pridham, Edward Daniel Linn, John L. Bartow, Louis Nicholas Hofer, and James McDonald. It was during White's ownership that the newspaper was named the "Victoria Advocate" between 1859 and 1861. McDonald introduced the "Daily Advocate" in 1897. Both daily and weekly editions were published until 1943. In 1901, after 55 years and nine owners, George H. French acquired the paper and operated it for 41 years.
Morris Roberts and a number of leading citizens purchased the paper in October 1942. In April 1961, Roberts purchased all stock and became sole owner of the Advocate. He shared ownership with his son, John M. Roberts, who serves as president, and daughter, Catherine R. McHaney, who is secretary-treasurer. Stephen McHaney serves as president of M. Roberts Media and publisher of the Longview News-Journal. Members of the Roberts/McHaney family purchased the daily newspaper in Longview and Marshall and the weekly paper in Carthage in 2012. The company added the daily paper in Tyler and the weekly paper in Kilgore to the company in 2018.
The Advocate has missed publication only a few times because of fires in 1876 and 1892, and the Civil War, when it could not publish due to lack of newsprint.
The Advocate's Web site, VictoriaAdvocate.com, was established in 1999.
The Advocate is located at 101 W. Ƶ., Suite 1200, in downtown Victoria.
Our readers-per-copy as measured by the Frank N. Magid Associates Publishing Division (formerly MORI Research) 2010 Audience Survey are 2.9 weekdays and 3.3 Sunday. Newspaper readership is measured with industry-standard questions and survey procedures that were codified by the Advertising Research Foundation and the Audit Bureau of Circulations (now AAM). These organizations are sponsored by major retailers and consumer marketing companies as well as print and electronic media companies.