Lester Markel (January 9, 1894 in New York, NY – October 23, 1977 in New York, NY) was an American journalist, editor, lecturer, and a significant advocate for the

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

. He received a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1953.

Early life

Lester Markel's parents were Jacob Leo Markel and Lillian (Hecht),E.A Brennan & E.C. Clarage (eds.) (1999). Who's Who of Pulitzer Prize Winners (page 567). Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press. both German immigrants.Obituary for Lester Markel. The Pittsburgh Press, October 24. 1977. Retrieved March 11, 2013. He married Meta Edman (b. 1895 - d. 1984) on April 3, 1917, at the

Hotel Astor Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 44th and 45th Stre ...

with Rev. Dr.

Henry Pereira Mendes Henry Pereira Mendes (, 13 April 1852 – 21 October 1937), was an American rabbi who was born in Birmingham, England and died in New York City. He was also known as Haim Pereira Mendes. Family history and education Henry Pereira Mendes was born ...

officiating; Arnold Markel, a brother of Lester, was best man and Mrs. A.J. Markel was the matron of honor. Lester and Meta Markel had one daughter, Helen (b. 1918 - d. 1990), who was Articles Editor for

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

and

McCalls ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

in the 1960s and 1970s.http://www.jacketflap.com/profile.asp?member=mstewart, Mark Stewart's Jacketflap profile Retrieved March 13, 2013. Helen Markel married Jack Stewart, head of the Book Division at the New York Times; Lester Markel's grandson is Mark L. Stewart, a prolific writer and editor. His brother-in-law was

Irwin Edman Irwin Edman (November 28, 1896 – September 4, 1954) was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy. Biography Irwin Edman was born in New York City to Jewish parents. He grew up in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, ...

, the famous Columbia University philosopher, who dedicated his masterpiece "Philosopher's Holiday" to Meta and Lester. Lester Markel attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

for two years and received a

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

degree (Litt. B.) from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, N.Y., in 1914.

Newspaper career

The New York Tribune

Markel began his career in the newspaper business as a sportswriter and

Linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing; manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for individual uses. Lin ...

operator for the Northside News, a neighborhood paper in the Bronx. Markel was subsequently hired as a reporter for the

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

and progressed to the positions of city editor and night editor. In 1919 he was promoted to assistant managing editor of the Tribune.

The New York Times

In 1923, Adolph S. Ochs hired Markel as editor for what was then the unremarkable Sunday department of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. Editor of the Sunday edition of the

from 1923 to 1964, Markel acknowledged that he was a "tough" editor while others considered him "intense and autocratic" Jack Rosenthal. "5000 Sundays; Letters From the Editor", The New York Times, April 14, 1996. Retrieved March 12, 2013. and "prickly." He reorganized the Sunday edition of the ''New York Times'', creating sections including the "Book Review" and "Arts and Leisure", thus establishing the familiar sectional-format of the Sunday newspaper that subsequently would be emulated by editors across the country. During the reorganization, Markel also established the "Review of the Week" section which earned him and the ''Times'' a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 with a special citation "for the section of its Sunday newspaper edited by Lester Markel and headed, 'Review of the Week,' which for seventeen years has brought enlightenment and intelligent commentary to its readers." As editor of

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

, he encouraged using the magazine as a forum for new ideas explicated with extended essays by noted personalities of the day.

Friendship with Marilyn Monroe

Lester Markel enjoyed a friendship with

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

with whom he engaged in political discussions of the day. A letter from Monroe to Markel was discovered in the early 80s. Dated March 29, 1960, Monroe began the letter with "Lester Dear, Here I am still in bed. I've been lying here--thinking even of you." Monroe continued with her views on presidential politics, with comments on Adlai Stevenson,

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

and others. She concluded her letter with "I didn't want you to get a glimpse of me until I was wearing my Somali leopard. I want you to think of me as a predatory animal."

Retirement

In 1963, 37-year-old

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Sr. (February 5, 1926 – September 29, 2012) was an American publisher and a businessman. Born into a prominent media and publishing family, Sulzberger became publisher of ''The New York Times'' in 1963 and chairman of t ...

became publisher of the New York Times. The following year, Sulzberger ordered that the daily edition and Sunday edition come under a single executive editor,

Turner Catledge William Turner Catledge (; 1901–1983) was an American journalist, best known for his work at ''The New York Times''. He was managing editor from 1952 to 1964, when he became the paper's first executive editor. After retiring in 1968, he serv ...

; Sulzberger felt that the separate editions competed inefficiently with each other and his decision to unify them under a single editor was made without prior notification to Markel. Subsequently, Markel became an associate editor of the New York Times and head of its department of public affairs. Markel and Catledge both retired from the Times in 1968.

The International Press Institute

In October, 1950, Lester Markel brought 34 editors from 15 countries to

in New York City for an initial discussion regarding the exchange of information among nations and the

. He subsequently convinced the

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of ...

to establish a five-person commission to further explore these topics. Markel penned the objectives for the new organization that eventually would become the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

: 1. The furtherance and safeguarding of freedom of the press, by which is meant: free access to the news, free transmission of the news, free publication of newspapers, free expression of views; 2. The achievement of understanding amongst journalists and so among peoples; 3. The promotion of the free exchange of accurate and balanced news among nations; and 4. the improvement of the practices of journalism. Markel organized the financing to support the fledgling organization, initially raising $20,000 from about 20 newspapers. In addition, he received a $150,000 grant from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

and a $120,000 grant for the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

that helped keep the organization afloat for the first three years. With finances secure, the formal establishment of the International Press Institute became official on May 16, 1951.

Television: News in Perspective

From 1963 to 1970, Markel edited and moderated a television program, "News in Perspective," a nationally broadcast public-program which reviewed and discussed the most important news of the week.Obituary for Lester Markel. The St. Petersburg Times, October 24, 1977, retrieved March 11, 2013. He was joined on the program by prominent ''New York Times'' colleagues

Clifton Daniel Elbert Clifton Daniel, Jr. (September 19, 1912 – February 21, 2000) was an American newspaperman who was the managing editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1964 to 1969. Before assuming the top editorial job at the paper, he served as the ...

James Reston James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.'' Early lif ...

, and

Tom Wicker Thomas Grey Wicker (June 18, 1926 – November 25, 2011) was an American journalist. He was a political reporter and columnist for ''The New York Times''. Background and education Wicker was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. He was a graduate ...

, Pulitzer-prize winner

Max Frankel Max Frankel (born April 3, 1930) is an American journalist. He was executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1986 to 1994. Life and career Frankel was born in Gera, Germany. He was an only child, and his family belonged to a Jewish minorit ...

, and Washington-insider Douglass Cater.

Post-retirement Years

After his retirement in 1968 and until his death in 1977, Markel continued to work as a freelance writer and consultant and was appointed a Distinguished Visiting Professor at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

. In his active retirement, Markel wrote "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You," which summarized his philosophy after four decades of experience in the newspaper business. For example, he identified the critical importance of a well-informed public opinion for the survival of democratic government, highlighting the obligation of the newspaper to provide this information to the 20 per cent of the population that is well-informed along with the 40 per cent who "do not know but are willing to learn." Addressing the remaining 40 per cent of the public, he commented that half are "ignorant and unwilling to learn" while the remaining half comprises "the moron category." Markel could also be critical of journalism, sarcastically referring to it as "froth estate," referring to the tendency for entertainment instead of straight news reporting and analysis. Markel clarified three approaches to the news:Lester Markel. "Interpretation of Interpretation", The Saturday Review, March 11, 1961. (http://centennial.journalism.columbia.edu/1923-the-sunday-times) Retrieved March 13, 2013. first, there is the reporting of basic facts; second, there is the interpretation of these facts; and third, there is commentary on the facts. Furthermore, he defined the distinction between interpretation and opinion; interpretation is an objective appraisal, based on background, knowledge of the situation, and analysis of the primary related facts. In contrast, editorial opinion is a subjective judgment, a definite taking of sides. Markel argued that "Opinion must be held, almost religiously, to the editorial page; interpretation is an essential part of the news." Lester Markel succumbed to cancer at his home at 135 Central Park West, New York, on October 23, 1977; he kept a second home in Oakhurst, N.J.

Quotes from Lester Markel

"What you see is news. What you know is background. What you feel is opinion."; "I'm not looking for admiration. All I want is respect."; "Sure I'm a tough editor. I don't believe in Gallup Poll editors who give the reader what they think he wants. I try to please myself."; "I am basically a one- or two-syllable and only occasionally a three-syllable man. I gather that, unless I am predominantly a polysyllabic fellow, I am not fit to print or to be read or even heard."

Bibliography

# Lester Markel (1949). Public Opinion and Foreign Policy (227 pages). New York, NY: Harper & Bros. # Lester Markekl (1963). Background and Foreground (495 pages). New York, NY: Dell Publishing Company. # Lester Markel (1973). What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: A Study of Public Opinion and Public Emotion (288 pages). New York, NY: Quadrangle/New York Times Book. # Lester Markel & Audrey March (1976). Global Challenge to the United States (241 pages). Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markel, Lester 1894 births 1977 deaths Columbia University alumni New-York Tribune personnel The New York Times editors Pulitzer Prize winners for journalism