Neuharth, Founder of USA TODAY, to Present Lecture at WSU

PULLMAN, Wash. — Allen H. Neuharth, founder of USA TODAY and the Freedom Forum,
will present an address at an Edward R. Murrow Convocation at Washington State University
Friday, May 28. His free, public presentation, titled “Can the Press Be Both Free and Fair?” is
scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Todd Hall, Room 276.
Neuharth started his journalism career in South Dakota as a reporter. He rose through the
ranks to build Gannett Co. Inc., the nation’s largest newspaper company, which he served as
president and then chairman. He also founded USA TODAY, the nation’s most widely read
newspaper. Neuharth is the founder of the nonpartisan, media-oriented Freedom Forum, a
foundation dedicated to free press and free speech in the United States and around the world. He
is the author of seven books; one, his autobiography, “Confessions of an S.O.B.,” was on
several bestseller lists and was widely translated. He is a frequent speaker across the U.S. and
abroad and appears on national television talk shows.
Named the most influential person in print media for the 1980s by the Washington
Journalism Review, he writes a weekly column for USA TODAY called “Plain Talk.” He has been
chairman and president of the Newspaper Association of America and received the Horatio
Alger Award in 1975.
Neuharth tours the U.S. with NewsCapade, the mobile exhibit of the Newseum, an interactive
museum of news located in Arlington, Virginia, with a satellite gallery in New York City. The
Newseum and NewsCapade are both funded by the Freedom Forum.
Preceding his lecture, Neuharth will receive the Murrow Award for Journalism. Murrow’s
son, Casey, and his wife, Meredith Wade, will be attending. A reception follows the lecture. The
event is sponsored by the WSU Edward R. Murrow School of Communication with the support
of the Saul and Dayee Haas Foundation.
On Thursday, May 27, Neuharth will deliver a public lecture in Seattle at a noon luncheon
sponsored by the Murrow School of Communication and the CityClub of Seattle. His topic there
will be “Free Enterprise Requires Free Speech, Free Press and Free Spirit.” Mike Fancher,
executive editor of the Seattle Times, will introduce him. The luncheon will be held at the
Washington Athletic Club; to make reservations, call the CityClub at 206/682-7395.
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