Publishers, editors and broadcasters who changed American newspapers, magazines, television news and the meaning of a free press.
Pulitzer came to the United States during the Civil War and built the New York World into a mass-circulation newspaper known for aggressive reporting and visual presentation. His estate endowed the Pulitzer Prizes, which became among the most prestigious honors in American journalism and letters.
“Newspapers are the university of the poor.”
Luce co-founded Time and later built Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated. His magazines reached enormous national audiences and helped shape the visual and editorial language through which 20th-century Americans encountered news, business, culture and sport.
“I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.”
Huffington co-founded The Huffington Post in 2005, helping establish aggregation, blogging and social-media distribution as major components of online news. The site’s commercial success made it an important model for digital publishing in the early social-web era.
“Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It’s the mastery of fear.”
Brown came to New York to edit Vanity Fair and later led The New Yorker, reshaping the visual style, celebrity coverage and pacing of both magazines. She later founded The Daily Beast and became a major figure in American magazine and digital-media culture.
“The key to great editing is knowing what to leave in and what to take out.”
Murdoch expanded into the United States in the 1970s, became a citizen in 1985 and built a major newspaper, television and cable-news empire. His companies, especially Fox News, have had a large and continuing influence on American media and political communication.
“In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts.”
Koppel came to America as a child and built a long career at ABC News. As anchor of Nightline from 1980 to 2005, he brought a serious interview-driven format to late-night television news and became one of the era’s best-known broadcast journalists.
“The responsibility of the press is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”
Wallace became a defining correspondent of 60 Minutes and helped popularize the confrontational television interview. His preparation, direct questioning and willingness to challenge powerful subjects became a model for American broadcast investigative journalism.
“I’ve always been a reporter. It’s been my life.”
Winchell built a huge audience through syndicated newspaper columns and radio broadcasts that blended celebrity gossip, crime reporting and political commentary. His style helped create the modern culture of celebrity-driven news and mass-media personality journalism.
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
Sulzberger led The New York Times through a period of national expansion and major press-freedom battles. Under his leadership the paper published the Pentagon Papers despite government opposition, a landmark confrontation over the First Amendment.
“The duty of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Zenger came to colonial New York as an indentured servant and became a printer and publisher. His 1735 acquittal on seditious-libel charges after printing criticism of the royal governor became an enduring symbol in the development of American press freedom.
“The question before the court is not the cause of a poor printer — it is the cause of every free man that lives under a British government.”