Allen Neuharth
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Allen H. Neuharth (born March 22, 1924, Eureka, South Dakota) is an American businessman, author, and columnist. He is the founder of USA Today.
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[edit] Early life
Neuharth graduated high school from Alpena High School, Alpena, SD, where he was editor of the school's newspaper. At the age of 19, Neuharth served in the Army in World War II. As a member of the U.S. 86th Infantry Division, Neuharth was deployed to France, Germany and the Philippines.
[edit] Education
After the war, Neuharth went to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where he edited the school newspaper, The Volante. He maintains an affiliation with the university and has an office in the Contemporary Media and Journalism building, The Al Neuharth Media Center. He offers a scholarship called "The Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship" honoring graduating high school students who exemplify the qualities of a 'free spirit' and aim to pursue a career in journalism.
[edit] News career
Neuharth and fellow USD alum Bill Porter founded SoDak Sports, a weekly newspaper devoted to covering the sports scene in South Dakota. Despite its initial popularity, SoDak went bankrupt in a year's time.
After his failure, Neuharth went to the Miami Herald, where he made his way up to assistant managing editor. In 1960, the Knight newspaper chain (later a part of Knight-Ridder), which owned the Herald, sent him to its Detroit Free Press, which was fighting an uphill battle with the Detroit News, which Neuharth would later buy while at Gannett.[1]
After Neuharth realized that he could go no further in the Knight organization due to the Knight family's complete control, he accepted Gannett head Paul Miller's offer to move to Gannett's HQ in Rochester, New York, first to run its paper there, the Democrat and Chronicle; then to run the boardroom under Miller, who he eventually succeeded in 1973.[1] He helped to build Gannett into the largest newspaper company in the U.S.
[edit] USA Today
Neuharth founded USA Today in 1982, the most widely read newspaper in the country.[2] Neuharth retired from Gannett on March 31, 1989, at the age of 65.
[edit] Column
Neuharth's columns attempt to provoke controversy; so much so that he offers space for one sentence rebuttals and defense from outsiders.
On December 22, 2004, Neuharth called for American troops to be brought home from the "ill-advised adventures" in Iraq, which he compared to the immorality of the Vietnam war. Neuharth also stated that if he were eligible for service in Iraq, he would do everything possible to avoid it.
[edit] Freedom Forum
Neuharth founded and has served as chairman of the Freedom Forum since 1991.
[edit] Quotes
"We in the media could help [the insurance situation] if we put in proper perspective long range hurricane forecasts that often are exaggerated and play into insurers' hands."[3]
[edit] Family
Neuharth is married to Dr. Rachel Fornes, a Cocoa Beach, Florida, chiropractor, his third wife. They adopted eight children.[2] Neuharth also fathered an out-of-wedlock daughter, Rosamunda Neuharth-Ozgo, but never acknowledged her.[4][5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b http://www.economicclub.org/Pages/archive/fulltext/arch-neuharth.htm#bio retrieved on June 4, 2007
- ^ a b freedomforum.org: Neuharth donates papers to Library of Congress
- ^ Neuharth, Al (November 30, 2007). Getting blown away. Florida Today.
- ^ unknown (April 7, 2008). unknown. New York Post.
- ^ FAIR retrieved April 8, 2008
[edit] References
- Neuharth, Al. Confessions of an S.O.B. Doubleday, 1989
[edit] External links
- NAA Honors Allen H. Neuharth for Lifetime of Achievement
- USA Today, They can only dream of holidays at home 12/22/2004
- USA Today, 'Shock and awe' or shame and sorrow? 12/16/2004
- USA Today Dead or alive, slick Castro still smirking 8/3/2006
