The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations. In 2019, it merged with the Associated Press Media Editors to become the News Leaders Association.

History The American Society of Newspaper Editors formed after two United States publications took the newspaper industry to task. In January 1922, The Atlantic Monthly featured two articles by Frederick Lewis Allen and Moorfield Storey which were critical of the way in which newspapers were published, and requested change. After reading the articles, Casper Yost — the longtime editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and himself a respected journalist — saw the need for forming an organization of editors willing to combat criticism.

Yost wrote to a few dozen editors soliciting support. The responses were positive and, just a month later, in February 1922, a small meeting was held in Chicago. Attendees included Yost and editors from Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. They gathered to discuss action they could take for the advancement of the news and editorial side, to develop a constitution and a code of ethics, and to launch a recruiting campaign for the group. The editors called a meeting in New York that April, when editors would be joining their publishers and congregating for the annual American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) meeting (despite no formal mention of them by ANPA in its bulletins). Their efforts were so successful that by October nearly 100 charter members had signed up.

The organization amended its bylaws and changed its name to the American Society of News Editors in April, 2009.

In 2012, the ASNE entered into a partnership with the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism and moved its headquarters from Reston, Virginia, to Columbia, Missouri.

In 2016, the Association of Opinion Journalists was merged with ASNE.

In 2018, a merger of ASNE with Associated Press Media Editors was announced. From this merger, the News Leaders Association was formed.

Organizational goals In October 1922, ASNE was launched with directors and officers; they hammered out a code of ethics, named committees and made preparations for the first convention at the New Willard Hotel in Washington the next April. The founders decided that ASNE would be an organization of individual editors of big-city papers — limiting membership to editors of newspapers in cities of 100,000 or more. Since then, rules have been loosened extensively.

Annual meetings

The annual convention was held annually — with the exception of 1945 and 2009 — mostly in Washington, D.C.

Over the years, every current U.S. president spoke at the organization's convention and it was considered a premier venue for politicians to appear. Notable examples are President Coolidge's Press Under a Free Government speech and President Eisenhower's Chance for Peace speech.

Activities ASNE had several initiatives carried out by its committees. The Diversity Committee was formed to evaluate employee diversity using the Newsroom Employment Census. The census queried every daily newspaper and online news site in the United States to determine the number of news staffers as well as their gender and race as part of the organization's yearly census. The survey continues via News Leaders Association.

Sunshine Week is an annual event led by ASNE that promotes open government and transparent journalism.

Awards

The ASNE Awards were another key initiative of the organization. They included: Batten Medal Osborn Award for Editorial Leadership Sulzberger Award for Online Storytelling Howell Award for Nondeadline Writing Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing Distinguished Writing on Diversity Award Local Accountability Reporting Award Community Service Photojournalism Award Breaking News Writing award Raymond Clapper Memorial Award ( 1951 to 1965)

Projects ASNE also ran several projects, generally carried out by staff with advice from committees. Projects subject areas have included diversity, credibility and readership.

During the early 2010s, ASNE ran my.hsj.org, which acted as a webhosting platform for high school newspapers and featured lessons in journalism, publishing, and advertising. By 2013, the website hosted over 5000 different newspapers. ASNE shut down the website in September of that year, stating that there are "so many more options available to schools".

Presidents of The ASNE Source:

1922–1926: Casper S. Yost, St. Louis Globe-Democrat 1926–1928: E. C. Hopwood, Cleveland Plain Dealer 1928–1930: Walter M. Harrison, The Oklahoman 1930–1933: Fred Fuller Shedd, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin 1933–1934: Paul Bellamy, Cleveland Plain Dealer 1934–1936: Grove Patterson, The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) 1936–1937: Marvin H. Creager, Milwaukee Journal 1937–1938: A. H. Kirchhofer, Buffalo Evening News 1938–1939: William Allen White, Emporia Gazette 1939–1940: Donald J. Sterling, Oregon Journal 1940–1941: Tom Wallace, The Louisville Times 1941–1942: Dwight Marvin, The Record (Troy) 1942–1943: W. S. Gilmore, Detroit News 1943–1944: Roy A. Roberts, The Kansas City Star 1944–1946: John S. Knight, Knight Newspapers 1946–1947: Wilbur Forrest, New York Herald Tribune 1947–1948: N. R. Howard, Cleveland News 1948–1949: Erwin D. Canham, The Christian Science Monitor 1949–1950: B. M. McKelway, Washington Star 1950–1951: Dwight Young, Dayton Journal-Herald 1951–1952: Alexander F. Jones, Syracuse Herald-Journal 1952–1953: Wright Bryan, Atlanta Journal 1953–1954: Basil L. Walters, Knight Newspapers 1954–1955: James S. Pope, Courier-Journal and Louisville Times 1955–1956: Kenneth MacDonald, Des Moines Register and Tribune 1956–1957: Jenkin Lloyd Jones Sr., Tulsa Tribune 1957–1958: Virginius Dabney, Richmond Times-Dispatch 1958–1959: George W. Healy Jr., New Orleans Times-Picayune 1959–1960: J. R. Wiggins, Washington Post 1960–1961: Turner Catledge, New York Times 1961–1962: Felix R. McKnight, Dallas Times Herald 1962–1963: Lee Hills, Knight Newspapers 1963–1964: Herbert Brucker, Hartford Courant 1964–1965: Miles H. Wolff, Greensboro Daily News 1965–1966: Vermont Royster, Wall Street Journal 1966–1967: Robert C. Notson, Portland Oregonian 1967–1968: Michael J. Ogden, The Providence Journal and Bulletin 1968–1969: Vincent S. Jones, Gannett Newspapers 1969–1970: Norman E. Isaacs, Courier-Journal and Louisville Times 1970–1971: Newbold Noyes, Washington Star 1971–1972: C. A. McKnight, The Charlotte Observer 1972–1973: J. Edward Murray, Detroit Free Press 1973–1974: Arthur C. Deck, Salt Lake Tribune 1974–1975: Howard H Hays Jr., The Press-Enterprise 1975–1976: Warren H. Phillips, The Wall Street Journal 1976–1977: George Chaplin, The Honolulu Advertiser 1977–1978: Eugene C. Patterson, St. Petersburg Times 1978–1979: John Hughes, The Christian Science Monitor 1979–1980: William H. Hornby, The Denver Post 1980–1981: Thomas Winship, The Boston Globe 1981–1982: Michael J. O'Neill, New York Daily News 1982–1983: John C. Quinn, Gannett Newspapers 1983–1984: Creed C. Black, Lexington Herald-Leader 1984–1985: Richard D. Smyser, The Oak Ridger 1985–1986: Robert P. Clark, Harte-Hanks Newspapers 1986–1987: Michael G. Gartner, The Courier-Journal 1987–1988: Katherine W. Fanning, The Christian Science Monitor 1988–1988: Edward R. Cony, The Wall Street Journal 1988–1989: John Seigenthaler, USA Today and The Tennessean 1989–1990: Loren Ghiglione, The News 1990–1991: Burl Osborne, The Dallas Morning News 1991–1992: David Lawrence Jr., The Miami Herald 1992–1993: Seymour Topping, The New York Times 1993–1994: William A. Hilliard, The Oregonian 1994–1995: Gregory Favre, The Sacramento Bee 1995–1996: William B. Ketter, The Patriot Ledger 1996–1997: Robert H. Giles, The Detroit News 1997–1998: Sandra Mims Rowe, The Oregonian 1998–1999: Edward L. Seaton, The Manhattan Mercury 1999–2000: N. Christian Anderson, The Orange County Register 2000–2001: Richard A. Oppel, Austin American-Statesman 2001–2002: Tim J. McGuire, Star Tribune 2002–2003: Diane H. McFarlin, Sarasota Herald Tribune 2003–2004: Peter K. Bhatia, The Oregonian 2004–2005: Karla Garrett Harshaw, Springfield News-Sun 2005–2006: Rick Rodriguez, The Sacramento Bee 2006–2007: David A. Zeeck, The News Tribune 2007–2008: Gilbert Bailon, Al Día, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2008–2009: Charlotte H. Hall, Orlando Sentinel 2009–2010: Martin Kaiser, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2010–2011: Milton Coleman, The Washington Post 2011–2012: Ken Paulson, First Amendment Center 2012–2013: Susan Goldberg, Bloomberg 2013–2014: David Boardman, Temple University 2014–2015: Chris Peck, The Riverton Ranger (Riverton, Wyoming) 2015–2016: Pam Fine, The University of Kansas 2016–2017: Mizell Stewart III, Gannett and USA TODAY Network 2017–2018: Alfredo Carabajal, Al Día at The Dallas Morning News

See also White House Correspondents' Association

References

External links

of the Sunshine Week