The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, 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 ''

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'' featured two articles by Frederick Lewis Allen and

Moorfield Storey Moorfield Storey (March 19, 1845 – October 24, 1929) was an American lawyer, anti-imperial activist, and civil rights leader based in Boston, Massachusetts. According to Storey's biographer, William B. Hixson, Jr., he had a worldview that embod ...

were critical and requested change in how newspapers were published. After reading the articles,

Casper Yost Casper Salathiel Yost (1864–1941) was the longtime editor of the '' St. Louis Globe-Democrat,'' a poet and an honored journalist. Early life Yost was born in Sedalia, Missouri on July 1, 1854. His parents were George Casper Yost and Sarah ...

— the longtime editor of the

St. Louis Globe-Democrat The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. When the trademark registration on the name expired, it was then used as an unrelated free historically themed paper. Orig ...

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

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. Attendees included Yost and editors from

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, 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 Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of bus ...

, and to launch a recruiting campaign for the group. The editors called a meeting in

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that April, when editors would be joining their publishers and congregating for the annual

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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. Over the years, every current U.S. president has spoken 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

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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.

Awards

The ASNE Awards were another key initiative of the organization. They included the Batten Medal, the Osborn Award for Editorial Leadership, the Sulzberger Award for Online Storytelling, the Howell Award for Nondeadline Writing, the Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing, the Distinguished Writing on Diversity Award, the Local Accountability Reporting Award, the Community Service Photojournalism Award and the Breaking News Writing award.

Projects

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

Sunshine Week Sunshine Week is a national initiative spearheaded by the News Leaders Association to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It was established in March 2005 by the America ...

initiative promoting the importance of open government.

Sunshine laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...

were enacted to make sure journalists have access to all government meetings.

References

External links

* *
Sunshine Week website
{{Authority control American journalism organizations Editor organizations

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