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RIP Al Neuharth.

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Riptide, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Allen H. Neuharth, the newspaper visionary and former Gannett chairman who founded USA TODAY, helped create a museum dedicated to news and became one of the industry's most influential and sometimes controversial figures, died Friday at his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 89.

    http://usat.ly/17MgsrC
     
  2. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    If there's no Snap Shot of him in Monday's USAT, I'll be disappointed. Having been a former Gannettoid, I thought he had a helluva mystique during the 1980s. He took an idea, borrowed a shitload of journalists from Rochester and other Gannett outposts, and created USAT, which kind of foresaw a quick-hit, Internet/Twitter world, not only with the short stories, but with the frequent dumping of raw information. I was a loaner for a few months during USAT's first few years, and those folks up in Rosslyn sure knew how to party. I don't think you can say he helped create great journalism, but he had a pretty good crystal ball. R.I.P.
     
  3. baddecision

    baddecision Active Member

    When USAT runs a photo of him on the front Monday, they need to make sure the tits are above the fold.
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Ah, you went there. :D I just couldn't pull the trigger.
     
  5. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    He, quite unintentionally, changed my life forever. I will drink a toast to him when I get home.
     
  6. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Forward-thinking to be sure but the short editorials they let him write on Friday's were painfully elementary and outright bad sometimes.
     
  7. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    I know for sure he didn't write the Al-Bus and Al-Jet pieces, and whoever wrote them didn't do him any favors.
     
  8. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I wonder if his obit will jump? I'm guessing they won't go with an infographic, but a black ball for the front would be a nice touch.
    He was a forward thinker in an industry that always seems to be behind the curve. People can knock him, but his efforts to make the news more user-friendly and putting more emphasis on sports and lifestyle and entertainment news, kept a lot of us employed.
     
  9. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    The USAT I remember allowed one jump from the cover.
     
  10. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member


    People can knock him, but his efforts to make the news more user-friendly and putting more emphasis on sports and lifestyle and entertainment news, kept a lot of us employed.... at lousy wages with a corporate zeal toward preventing any efforts to unionize.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    A pioneer in dumbing down journalism, union-busting and eliminating jobs. Woo fucking hoo.
     
  12. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    True that. Figure the Singletons of the world figured if Neuarth could do it, they could do it with even lower wages and higher margins.
     
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