Carol Sutton

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Carol Sutton (born June 29, 1933 - February 19, 1985 ) was an American journalist . Sutton was the first female editor-in-chief of a major American newspaper , one of the " Women of 1975" on the cover of Time news magazine, and the first white member of the National Association of Black Journalists ' Hall of Fame .

Life

Sutton studied journalism at the University of Missouri . Immediately after graduating in 1955, she joined the liberal newspaper The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky , which was considered one of the best in the nation at the time. Although she had excellent grades from a prestigious journalism school in the United States, she accepted the only position offered to her as secretary to the editor-in-chief. She managed to get into the city's editorial office through evening and weekend assignments. There she quickly gained recognition from the editors .

In 1957, Sutton married her colleague Charles Whaley. Even after the birth of her two daughters in 1960 and 1963, she continued to work. In 1963 she took over the editing of the corporate section and modernized it. Renamed Women's World and soon afterwards Today's Living , it featured abortion , racial segregation , cross-racial weddings, and the starvation of an infant. Her work was honored with the 1972 Penney-Missouri Award . She hired the first male reporter in her field in 1972.

Two years later, in 1974, Sutton became editor-in-chief, the first woman to work for one of America's major newspapers. In January 1976 she appeared on the cover of Time news magazine , which had chosen American Women as the "Women of the Year 1975". With Betty Ford and Billie Jean King , Sutton was one of the twelve outstanding Americans that Time presented. A year later, she was a part of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photo Reporting , which her editorial team was awarded with the Louisville Times .

In the recession that followed Richard Nixon's resignation , the newspaper fell into a crisis as it had advocated economy measures on school buses. Sutton had to step back into the second rank and the editing of Today's Living was taken over by a man. When the newsrooms were later reorganized, she managed to attract some of the best journalists from among the minorities to the newspaper. As a result, she became the first white member of the "Hall of Fame" of the National Association of Black Journalists .

Carol Sutton died in 1985, a few months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. A year later, after the newspaper was sold, Irene Nolan became editor-in-chief; Sutton had encouraged her.

Her family awards a Carol Sutton Memorial Scholarship each year , which is now given to eight to twelve recipients. She was recognized literarily in 1991 in the book The Patriarch about the rise and fall of the Bingham newspaper- making dynasty.

literature

  • Kimberly Wilmot Voss: The Burden of Being First. Carol Sutton and the Courier-Journal. In: American Journalism. 27 (2010). Pp. 117-143.
  • Robert D. McFadden, New York Times : Carol Sutton, Ranking Editor In Louisville, Ky., Dead at 51 February 20, 1985.
  • Susan E. Tifft, Alex S. Jones: The Patriarch. The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty. Summit Books 1991. ISBN 0-671-79707-7 .
  • James D. Ausenbaugh: At Sixth and Broadway. Tales From the Glory Days of a Great Newspaper, The Courier-Journal. Mews Publishing Company, 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carol Sutton. In: Almanac of Famous People. Gale Group 2003.
  2. ↑ Since 1994 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards .
  3. ↑ Women of the Year: Great Changes, New Chances, Tough Choices , Time, January 5, 1976, accessed March 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ Kenneth T. Jackson (Ed.): Scribner's Encyclopedia of American Lives. Vol. 1. Notable Americans Who Died Between 1981 and 1985. New York 1998. pp. 775f.
personal data
SURNAME Sutton, Carol
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Whaley, Carol (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1933
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 1985