USA Today Editor Ken Paulson Leaving Paper For Newseum
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NEW YORK — Ken Paulson, editor of USA Today and a veteran First Amendment advocate, is leaving the nation's top-selling newspaper in February to take the No. 2 position at an organization devoted to free speech.
Publisher Craig Moon did not name a replacement Wednesday in announcing the departure, which he described as voluntary and a surprise.
Paulson, 55, was named editor in 2004 in the wake of a fraud scandal involving a former star reporter, Jack Kelley. Paulson's predecessor, Karen Jurgensen, had resigned just before executives released a report by a panel of journalism experts that faulted management for not catching Kelley's misdeeds.
"Ken's news judgment and management expertise helped steer the newspaper through those rough waters," Moon said in a memo to employees Wednesday. "He brought a new energy to USA Today, focusing on the strength of our reporting, as he created a strong model on sourcing and architected the plan to merge the print and online newsrooms. There is no doubt that there can be a perfect leader at the perfect time."
Paulson, USA Today's sixth editor and its senior vice president for news, leaves Feb. 1 to become president and chief operating officer of the Newseum and the Freedom Forum. There he will succeed Peter Prichard, who also had been editor of USA Today before joining the Freedom Forum 12 years ago.
The Freedom Forum, a nonprofit group that promotes free speech, is the chief funder for the Newseum, a Washington, D.C., museum devoted to journalism and the news. The forum was established by USA Today founder Al Neuharth but has no direct ties to the paper or its parent, Gannett Co.
Paulson was one of USA Today's founding staff members and has held various senior editing positions within Gannett. Before returning to USA Today in 2004, he was executive director of the First Amendment Center, a free speech education organization that is part of the Freedom Forum.
Paulson, who is also an attorney but practiced law only briefly, said he wanted a chance to work daily on First Amendment issues.
"A lot of people seem to take these core freedoms for granted, and I feel strongly we need to turn that around," Paulson said in an interview. "It's disturbing that America's free press, which does good and noble work every day, is held in such low regard by the American public."
Paulson leaves USA Today with the entire newspaper industry in a downfall as advertising revenue declines sharply because of the recession and the migration of readers to the Internet.
Although USA Today's circulation of 2.3 million has remained flat while most other papers have seen reductions, third-quarter ad revenue at USA Today fell 7.1 percent, and the paper last month said it would cut about 20 newsroom jobs, nearly 5 percent.
Paulson said the newspaper and its Web site should be able to weather the economic downturn by staying true to its heart.
"It remains a uniquely American read," he said, "that aggressively covers both American politics and `American Idol,' and we've never apologized for that."
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ANICK JESDANUN | December 17, 2008 03:30 PM EST |
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