Adolph Ochs

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Adolph Ochs (US postage stamp, 1976)

Adolph Simon Ochs (born March 12, 1858 in Cincinnati , Ohio ; † April 8, 1935 in Chattanooga , Tennessee ) was an American reporter and publicist of German-Jewish origin (Ochs' father emigrated from Fürth ). He was the owner of the "Chattanooga Times" newspaper and, since 1896, the " New York Times ".

Life

He was the firstborn of six children from Julius and Bertha Ochs. His mother, who grew up in the southern states , sided with the Confederates during the Civil War , while his father fought in the Union Army . Despite the apparent conflict, the budget did not fall apart. After the war, the family moved to Knoxville , Tennessee . During his school days he delivered newspapers. In 1872 he got a job as an apprentice (printer's devil) in the printing works of the "Knoxville Chronicle" and later as a typesetter with the "Louisville Courier-Journal" in Kentucky. In 1877 he helped set up the "Chattanooga Dispatch". In July 1878 - when he was only 20 years old - he borrowed $ 250 to buy a majority stake in the ailing Chattanooga Times. He developed this newspaper into one of the leading newspapers in the southern United States.

Ochs was the founder of the Southern Associated Press and its chairman from 1891 to 1894; from 1900 until his death he was a director of the Associated Press .

In 1884 Ochs married Effie Wise, daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, who was a leading exponent of Reform Judaism in America and the founder of the Hebrew Union College , the first Jewish theological school in America. They only had one child, daughter Iphigene Bertha.

On August 18, 1896, he acquired - again with borrowed money ($ 75,000) - the majority in the financially troubled New York Times . The Times had lost most of its readers to Joseph Pulitzer's "World" and Randolph Hearst's "Journal," which were penny each, while the Times was 3 cents. When the Times hit heavy losses in 1887, his advisers suggested raising the price to 1 nickel (5 cents) to signal readers that it would not drop to the level of the "yellow" press. Ochs, however, lowered the price to 1 cent and put it all on one card by saying that there would be enough readers for a quality newspaper if he only adhered to the principle of separating the news from political and personal opinions. By bringing "all the news that's fit to print" - and not just news the publisher deemed appropriate - the Times appealed to an audience that Ochs considered thoughtful and appropriate described purely minded people. He was right and increased the circulation from around 9,000 at the time of purchase to up to 780,000 in the 1920s . Ochs put the independence of the newspaper before profit. He did not accept dubious advertisements or contracts with governments that could have compromised his political independence. Under Ochs' leadership, the New York Times became the first national newspaper to demonstrate that a publisher could balance high circulation, profitability, and journalistic responsibility.

Although Ochs' critics complained that he was too conservative in his social views and adopted an elitist tone on the editorial side, they had to admit that they loved the accurate description of events, the full text of contracts, laws and speeches and the objectivity in the Coverage were impressed.

Ochs moved the Times headquarters to Longacre Square in Manhattan . The name change in Times Square took place officially on April 8, 1904. On this day the renowned newspaper "New York Times" moved into its new publishing house directly on the square. On New Year's Eve 1904, Ochs had a firework display around his new building for the inauguration in Times Square . The skyscraper, which served as the headquarters of the New York Times between 1904 and 1913, is now known as "One Times Square". An impressive fireworks display has been set off at this building every year since 1907. As early as 1913, the "Times" moved to another building on 43rd Street, where it remained until 2007. Since 2007, the newspaper's headquarters have been the New York Times Building on 8th Avenue in Manhattan.

His daughter, Iphigene Bertha Ochs, married Arthur Hays Sulzberger , who succeeded his father-in-law as editor of the newspaper. Her son Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger later also became editor of the New York Times. The Antarctic Ochs Glacier is named after Adolph Ochs . Mount Iphigene in Antarctica is named after his daughter .

literature

  • Susan E. Tifft; Alex S. Jones: The trust: the private and powerful family behind the New York Times . Boston: Little, Brown, 1999
  • Doris Faber: Printer's Devil to Publisher: Adolph S. Ochs of the New York Times . Publisher: Black Dome Press 1996. ISBN 978-1883-78909-1
  • Elmer Davis: History of the New York Times, 1851-1921 Publisher: The New York Times 1921

Web links

Commons : Adolph Ochs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography Ochs in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. ^ Silverman, F .: The man who saved the Times . Ed .: Editor & Publisher. tape 129 , no. 23 , p. 16 .
  3. ↑ The new New York Times building - inaugurated in 2007
personal data
SURNAME Ox, Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ochs, Adolph Simon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American reporter, owner of the New York Times
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1935
Place of death Chattanooga , Tennessee