Newspaperman: Inside the News Business at The Wall Street Journal

CHAPTER 25Publisher Pals

I JOINED AND BEGAN ATTENDING the annual conventions of the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) when I became president of Dow Jones in 1972 and then, in 1975, chief executive officer. The title chairman of the board was added in 1978 after Bill Kerby retired from the board. I served on the ANPA’s board of directors from 1976 to 1984. Barney Kilgore always avoided the publishers’ conventions, preferring those of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, saying of the publisher gatherings, “All they want to talk about is the price of newsprint.” He had a point. In general, Barbara and I, too, preferred the company of the editors. But the key words there are “in general.” We made many friends among the publishers. ...