Bruce Anderson (publisher)

{{Short description|American newspaper publisher}}

Bruce Anderson is the publisher and editor of the Northern California weekly newspaper, Anderson Valley Advertiser (AVA), which he purchased in 1984 for a sum of $20,000. The New York Times described the AVA as "the country's most idiosyncratic and contentious weeklies."{{Cite news|last=Brown|first=Patricia Leigh|date=2004-11-30|title=He Ranted, He Raved, He Rode Out on His Own Rail|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/us/he-ranted-he-raved-he-rode-out-on-his-own-rail.html|access-date=2020-05-20|issn=0362-4331}} Anderson is known for publishing some of the most interesting, well-researched journalism in Northern California.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=SF Weekly |date=1996-07-17 |title=Country Rogue |url=https://www.sfweekly.com/news/country-rogue/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621104716/https://www.sfweekly.com/news/country-rogue/ |archive-date=2021-06-21 |access-date=2020-05-20 |website=SF Weekly |language=en-US}}

Anderson received a baseball athletic scholarship to attend California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, but later transferred to San Francisco State where he earned a B.A. in English. Prior to purchasing the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Anderson served in the Marines, Peace Corps, and ran a home for juvenile delinquents. Anderson was a foster parent to American serial killer David Mason who was executed in San Quentin State Prison's gas chamber in 1993.

Anderson has been in jail numerous times,{{Cite web|title=Mendocino County Bruce Anderson repurchases Anderson Valley Advertiser after Oregon newspaper's failure to launch|url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2164847-181/mendocino-county-bruce-anderson-repurchasesanderson|date=2007-07-04|website=Santa Rosa Press Democrat|language=en|access-date=2020-05-20}} most notably for allegedly withholding evidence in the Bear Lincoln murder trialand for punching a superintendent at a school board meeting.

Anderson is married to Ling More, who he met in Borneo during his time in the Peace Corps.{{Cite web|title=The Last (or at Least Looniest) Newspaper in America|url=https://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/24/last-or-least-looniest-newspaper-america-321646.html|last=Nazaryan|first=Alexander|date=2015-04-12|website=Newsweek|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526200012/http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/24/last-or-least-looniest-newspaper-america-321646.html |archive-date=2015-05-26 |access-date=2020-05-20}} His son, Zack Anderson, is the co-writer of the films Pig Hunt and Windows on the World.{{Cite web|title=Zack Anderson|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2106090/|website=IMDb|access-date=2020-05-20}} Anderson is uncle to activist and American writer, Robert Mailer Anderson. In 2022, Bruce Anderson received a Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN Oakland.