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, or ...

, 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 ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' 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 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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Attendees included Yost and editors from

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

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

American Newspaper Publishers Association The News Media Alliance (formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America until 2016 Willard Hotel The Willard InterContinental Washington, commonly known as the Willard Hotel, is a historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. It is currently a member oHistoric Hotels of America the offi ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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

Chance for Peace speech The Chance for Peace speech, also known as the Cross of Iron speech, was an address given by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 16, 1953, shortly after the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Speaking only three months into his preside ...

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 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

Newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...