RIP Al Neuharth.

[Riptide]

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

 

[dooley_womack1]

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 ****load 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.

 

[baddecision]

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

 

[dooley_womack1]

Ah, you went there. I just couldn't pull the trigger.

 

[HejiraHenry]

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

 

[hondo]

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

 

[dooley_womack1]

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

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.

 

[DanOregon]

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.

 

[Football_Bat]

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.

The USAT I remember allowed one jump from the cover.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

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.

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.

 

[Starman]

A pioneer in dumbing down journalism, union-busting and eliminating jobs. Woo ****ing hoo.

 

[DanOregon]

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.

 

[MileHigh]

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.

Uncle Dean took it to a brand-new level.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Heaven needed someone to get paid for doing nothing.

 

[SixToe]

Maybe they'll put his face in the idiotic balls in the corner of each page.