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USA Today

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For other uses, seeUSA Today (disambiguation).

USA Today
Front page (February 2, 2017)
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Gannett
Founder(s)Al Neuharth
PublisherMaribel Perez Wadsworth
PresidentMaribel Perez Wadsworth[1]
Editor-in-chiefTerence Samuel[2]
FoundedSeptember 15, 1982;42 years ago(1982-09-15)
Political alignmentLeft-leaning[3]
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters7950 Jones Branch Drive,
McLean, Virginia22108
(main)
Geneva,Switzerland (international edition)
CountryUnited States
Circulation113,228 daily
142,212 digital-only (as of 2023)[4]
Sister newspapersUSA Today Sports Weekly
ISSN0734-7456
Websitewww.usatodayEdit this at Wikidata

USA Today(often stylized inall caps[5]) is an American dailymiddle-market newspaperandnews broadcastingcompany. Founded byAl Neuharthin 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates fromGannett's corporate headquarters inTysons, Virginia.[6]Its newspaper is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. The paper's dynamic design influenced the style of local, regional, and national newspapers worldwide through its use of concise reports, colorized images,informational graphics,and inclusion ofpopular culturestories, among other distinct features.[7][8]

As of 2023,USA Todayhas thefifth-largestprint circulationin the United States, with 132,640 print subscribers. It has two million digital subscribers, the fourth-largest online circulation of any U.S. newspaper.

It has been shown to maintain a liberal audience, in regards to politicalpersuasion.[9]USA Todayis distributed in all 50states,Washington, D.C.,andPuerto Rico,and an international edition is distributed inAsia,Canada,Europe,and thePacific Islands.[10]

History

[edit]

20th century

[edit]

USA Todaywas first conceived on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with the then-chairman ofGannett,Al Neuharth,inCocoa Beach, Florida.Early regional prototypes ofUSA TodayincludedEast Bay Today,anOakland, California-based publication published in the late 1970s to serve as the morning edition of theOakland Tribune,an afternoon newspaper that Gannett owned at the time.[11]On June 11, 1981, Gannett printed the first prototypes of the proposed publication. The two proposed design layouts were mailed to newsmakers and prominent leaders in journalism for review and feedback.[8][12]Gannett's board of directors approved the launch of the national newspaper, titledUSA Today,on December 5, 1981. At launch, Neuharth was appointed president and publisher of the newspaper, adding those responsibilities to his existing position as Gannett'schief executive officer.[12][13]

Gannett announced the launch of the paper on April 20, 1982.USA Todaybegan publishing on September 14, 1982, initially in theBaltimoreandWashington, D.C.metropolitan areas,[14][15]for a newsstand price of 25¢ (equivalent to 79¢ in 2023). After selling out the first issue, Gannett gradually expanded the national distribution of the paper, reaching an estimated circulation of 362,879 copies by the end of 1982, double the amount of sales that Gannett projected.[citation needed]

Original logo, used from 1982 to 2012

The design uniquely incorporated color graphics and photographs. Initially, only its front news section pages were rendered in four-color, while the remaining pages were printed in aspot colorformat. The paper's overall style and elevated use of graphics—developed by Neuharth, in collaboration with staff graphics designers George Rorick, Sam Ward, Suzy Parker, John Sherlock and Web Brya—were derided by critics, who referred to it as a "McPaper"or" television you can wrap fish in ", because it opted to incorporate concise nuggets of information more akin to the style oftelevision news,rather than in-depth stories like traditional newspapers, which many in the newspaper industry considered to be adumbing downof content.[12][13][16]AlthoughUSA Todayhad been profitable for just ten years as of 1997, it changed the appearance and feel of newspapers around the world.[17]

Gannett invested in an expensive network of printing factories and distribution during the rollout ofUSA Today,meaning that the paper could be printed and distributed quickly. One of the results of this wasUSA Todayhaving the luxury of a later time cutoff for journalists to submit stories, such that the paper was able to include sports scores from games that finished late in the next morning's paper. The sports section ofUSA Today,with its complete set of results, was well-regarded and generally seen as one of the main selling points of the paper.[18]

On July 2, 1984, the newspaper switched from predominantly black-and-white to full-color photography and graphics in all four sections. The following week, on July 10,USA Todaylaunched an international edition intended for U.S. readers abroad, followed four months later on October 8 with the rollout of the first transmission via satellite of its international version toSingapore.On April 8, 1985, the paper published its first special bonus section, a 12-page section called "Baseball '85", which previewed the1985 Major League Baseball season.[12]

By the fourth quarter of 1985,USA Todayhad become the second-largest newspaper in the United States, reaching a daily circulation of 1.4 million copies. Total daily readership of the paper by 1987 (according to Simmons Market Research Bureau statistics) had reached 5.5 million, the largest of any daily newspaper in the U.S. On May 6, 1986,USA Todaybegan production of its international edition inSwitzerland.USA Todayoperated at a loss for most of its first four years of operation, accumulating a total deficit of $233 million after taxes. According to figures released by Gannett in July 1987, the newspaper began turning its first profit in May 1987, six months ahead of Gannett's corporate revenue projections.[12]

On January 29, 1988,USA Todaypublished the largest edition in its history, a 78-page weekend edition featuring a section previewingSuper Bowl XXII;the edition included 44.38 pages of advertising and sold 2,114,055 copies, setting a single-day record for an American newspaper (and surpassed seven months later on September 2, when itsLabor Dayweekend edition sold 2,257,734 copies). On April 15,USA Todaylaunched a third international printing site, based inHong Kong.The international edition set circulation and advertising records during August 1988, with coverage of the1988 Summer Olympics,selling more than 60,000 copies and 100 pages of advertising.[12]

By July 1991, Simmons Market Research Bureau estimated thatUSA Todayhad a total daily readership of nearly 6.6 million, an all-time high and the largest readership of any daily newspaper in the United States. On September 1, 1991,USA Todaylaunched a fourth printsite for its international edition in London for theUnited Kingdomand theBritish Isles.[12]The international edition's schedule was changed as of April 1, 1994, to Monday through Friday, rather than from Tuesday through Saturday, in order to accommodate business travelers; on February 1, 1995,USA Todayopened its first editorial bureau outside the United States at its Hong Kong publishing facility; additional editorial bureaus were launched in London andMoscowin 1996.[12]

On April 17, 1995,USA Todaylaunched its website to provide real-time news coverage; in June 2002, the site expanded to include a section providing travel information and booking tools. On August 28, 1995, a fifth international publishing site was launched inFrankfurt, Germany,to print and distribute the international edition throughout most of Europe.[12]

On October 4, 1999,USA Todaybegan running advertisements on its front page for the first time.[12]In 2017, some pages of USA Today's website featuresAuto-Playfunctionality for video or audio-aided stories.

21st century

[edit]

On February 8, 2000, Gannett launchedUSA Today Live,a broadcast and Internet initiative designed to provide coverage from the newspaper to broadcast television stations nationwide for use in their local newscasts and their websites; the venture also provided integration with theUSA Todaywebsite, which transitioned from a text-based format to feature audio and video clips of news content.[12]

The paper launched a sixth printing site for its international edition on May 15, 2000, inMilan,Italy,followed on July 10 by the launch of an international printing facility inCharleroi, Belgium.[12]

In 2001, two interactive units were launched: on June 19,USA Todayand Gannett Newspapers launched the USA Today Careers Network (now Careers ), a website featuring localized employment listings, then on July 18, the USA Today News Center was launched as an interactive television news service developed through a joint venture with the On Command Corporation that was distributed to hotels around the United States. On September 12 of that year, the newspaper set an all-time single day circulation record, selling 3,638,600 copies for its edition covering theSeptember 11 attacks.That November,USA Todaymigrated its operations from Gannett's previous corporate headquarters inArlington, Virginia,to the company's new headquarters in nearbyMcLean.[12]

In 2004,Jack Kelley,a senior foreign correspondent for USA Today, was found to have fabricated foreign news reports over the past decade. Kelley resigned.[19]

On December 12, 2005, Gannett announced that it would combine the separate newsroom operations of the online and print entities ofUSA Today,with USAToday 's vice president and editor-in-chief Kinsey Wilson promoted to co-executive editor, alongside existing executive editor John Hillkirk.[12]

In December 2010,USA Todaylaunched the USA TodayAPIfor sharing data with partners of all types.[20]

Newsroom restructuring and 2011 graphical tweaks

[edit]

On August 27, 2010,USA Todayannounced that it would undergo a reorganization of its newsroom, announcing the layoffs of 130 staffers. It also announced that the paper would shift its focus away from print and place more emphasis on its digital platforms (including USAToday and its relatedmobile applications) and launch of a new publication calledUSA Today Sports.[citation needed]

On January 24, 2011, to reverse a revenue slide, the paper introduced a tweaked format that modified the appearance of its front section pages, which included a larger logo at the top of each page; coloring tweaks to section front pages; a newsans-seriffont, called Prelo, for certain headlines of main stories (replacing the Gulliver typeface that had been implemented for story headers in April 2000); an updated "Newsline" feature featuring larger, "newsier" headline entry points; and the increasing and decreasing ofmastheadsand white space to present a cleaner style.[21]

2012 redesign

[edit]
Miguel Vazquez fromUSA Todayshows off the publication's Metro App, 2012.

On September 14, 2012,USA Todayunderwent the first major redesign in its history, in commemoration for the 30th anniversary of the paper's first edition.[22]Developed in conjunction with brand design firmWolff Olins,the print edition ofUSA Todayadded a page covering technology stories, expanded travel coverage within the Life section, and increased the number of color pages included in each edition, while retaining longtime elements.[23]The "globe" logo used since the paper's inception was replaced with a new logo featuring a large circle rendered in colors corresponding to each of the sections, serving as an infographic that changes with news stories, containing images representing that day's top stories.[23][24]

The paper's website was also extensively overhauled using a new, in-housecontent management systemknown as Presto and a design created by Fantasy Interactive, that incorporates flipboard-style navigation to switch between individual stories (which obscure most of the main and section pages), clickable video advertising and aresponsive designlayout. The site was designed and developed to be more interactive, faster, provide "high impact" advertising units (known as Gravity), and provide the ability for Gannett to syndicateUSA Todaycontent to the websites of its local properties, and vice versa. To accomplish this goal,Gannett Digitalmigrated its newspaper and television station websites to the Presto platform. Developers built a separate platform to provide optimizations formobileandtouchscreendevices. The Gravity ad won Digiday's Best Publishing Innovation in Advertising in 2016, thanks to an 80% full-watch user engagement rate on desktop, and 96% on mobile.[25][26]

Following the relaunch, the editorial team behindUSA TodayInvestigations ramped up its "longread" article plans, following the success of the seriesGhost Factories.With differing platform requirements,USA Today'smobile website did not offer any specialized support for these multi-chapter stories. Nearing the end of 2012, more than one-third ofUSA Today'sreadership was browsing only using their mobile phones, and the majority of these users were accessing the mobile website (as opposed to the iOS and Android applications) with the newer, less-obtrusive advertising strategy. Gannet Digital designed, developed, and released the longread mobile experience to coincide with the launch ofBrad Heath's seriesLocked Up,which won theInvestigative Reporters and EditorsTom Renner Award in October 2013.[27][28]

Gannett Digital's focus on its mobile content experience paid off in 2012 with multiple awards; including the Eppy for Best Mobile Application, the Mobile Excellence award for Best User Experience, the MOBI award for Editorial Content, and Mobile Publisher of the Year.[29][30][31]

TheUSA Todaysite design was launched on desktop, mobile and TV throughout 2013 and 2014, although archive content accessible throughsearch enginesremains available through the pre-relaunch design.[32][33]

Mid-2010s expansion and restructuring

[edit]

On October 6, 2013, Gannett test launched a condensed daily edition ofUSA Today(part of what was internally known within Gannett as the "Butterfly" initiative) for distribution as an insert in four of its newspapers –The Indianapolis Star,theRochester Democrat & Chronicle,theFort Myers-basedThe News-Pressand theAppleton, Wisconsin-basedThe Post-Crescent.The launch of the syndicated insert causedUSA Todayto restructure its operations to allow seven-day-a-week production to accommodate the packaging of its national and international news content and enterprise stories (comprising about 10 pages for the weekday and Saturday editions, and up to 22 pages for the Sunday edition) into the pilot insert. Gannett later announced on December 11, that it would formally launch the condensed daily edition ofUSA Todayin 31 additional local newspapers nationwide through April 2014 (with thePalm Springs, California-basedThe Desert Sunand theLafayette, Louisiana-basedAdvertiserbeing the first newspapers outside of the pilot program participants to add the supplement on December 15), citing "positive feedback" to the feature from readers and advertisers of the initial four papers. Gannett was given permission from theAlliance for Audited Mediato count the circulation figures from the syndicated local insert with the total circulation count for the flagship national edition ofUSA Today.[34][35]

On January 4, 2014,USA Todayacquired the consumer product review websiteReviewed.[36][12]In the first quarter of 2014, Gannett launched a condensedUSA Todayinsert into 31 other newspapers in its network, thereby increasing the number of inserts to 35, in an effort to shore up circulation after it regained its position as the highest-circulated weekday newspaper in the United States in October 2013.[34][37]On September 3, 2014,USA Todayannounced that it would lay off roughly 70 employees in a restructuring of its newsroom and business operations.[38]In October 2014,USA Todayand OpenWager Inc. entered into a partnership to release aBingomobile appcalled USA Today Bingo Cruise.[39][40]

On December 3, 2015, Gannett formally launched the USA Today Network, a national digital newsgathering service providing shared content betweenUSA Todayand the company's 92 local newspapers throughout the United States as well as pooling advertising services on both a hyperlocal and national scale. TheCourier Journalhad earlier soft-launched the service as part of a pilot program started on November 17, coinciding with an imaging rebrand for theLouisville, Kentucky-based newspaper; Gannett's other local newspaper properties, as well as those it acquired through its merger with theJournal Media Group,gradually began identifying themselves as part of the USA Today Network (foregoing use of the Gannett name outside of requisite ownership references) through early January 2016.[41][42][43]

In the late 2010s, as the print run declined, Gannett pulled back from the extensive and expensive distribution network, opting to have shorter deadlines, and printing the remaining copies from fewer facilities while potentially trucking them longer distances to still be available in the morning.[18]

In May 2021,USA Todayintroduced apaywallfor some of its online stories.[44]

On June 16, 2022, it was reported thatUSA Todayremoved 23 articles written by journalist Gabriela Miranda after an inquiry related to one of her articles triggered an internal investigation and found that Miranda had fabricated sources on articles pertaining to theTexas Heartbeat Act,Ukrainian women's issues due to theRussian invasion,and an article on sunscreen. Miranda resigned.[45][46][47]

Layout and format

[edit]
Cover page used for February 5, 2009

USA Todayis known for news in compact, easy-to-read-and-comprehend stories. In the main edition circulated in the United States andCanada,each edition consists of four sections: News (the "front page" section), Money, Sports, and Life. Since March 1998, the Friday edition of Life has been split into two sections: the regular Life focusing on entertainment (subtitledWeekend;section E), which features television reviews andlistings,aDVDcolumn,film reviewsand trends, and a travel supplement calledDestinations & Diversions(section D). The international edition of the paper features two sections: News and Money in one, and Sports and Life in the other.

Atypical of most daily newspapers, the paper does not print on Saturdays and Sundays; the Friday edition serves as the weekend edition.USA Todayhas published special Saturday and Sunday editions in the past: the first issue released during the standard calendar weekend was published on January 19, 1991, when it released a Saturday "Extra" edition updating coverage of theGulf Warfrom the previous day; the paper published special seven-day-a-week editions for the first time on July 19, 1996, when it published special editions for exclusive distribution in the host city ofAtlantaand surrounding areas for the two-week duration of the1996 Summer Olympics.[12]USA Todayprints each complete story on the front page of the respective section, with the exception of the cover story. The cover story is a longer story that requires a jump (readers must turn to another page in the paper to complete the story, usually the next page of that section). On certain days, the news or sports section, will take up two paper sections, and there will be a second cover story within the second section.

Each section is differentiated by a certain color in a box on the top-left corner of the first page; the principal section colors are blue for News (section A), green for Money (section B), red for Sports (section C), and purple for Life (section D); in the paper's early years, the Life and Money sections were also assigned blue nameplates and spot colors, as the presses used atUSA Today's printing facilities did not yet accommodate the use of other colors to denote all four original sections.[48]Orange is used for bonus sections (sections E+), which are published occasionally forbusiness traveltrends and theOlympics.Other bonus sections for sports (such as for thePGA Tourpreview,NCAA basketball tournaments,Memorial Dayauto races (Indianapolis 500andCoca-Cola 600),NFLopening weekend and theSuper Bowl) previously used the orange color, but later changed to the regular sports red in their sports bonus sections. To strengthen their association withUSA Today,Gannett incorporated theUSA Todaycolor scheme into a standardized broadcast graphics package that was phased in across its television station group (which was spun-off in July 2015 into the separate broadcast and digital media companyTegna) starting in late 2012. The package used the color scheme in a rundown graphic on most stations, persisting throughout their newscasts, as well as bumpers for individual story topics.[49]

In many ways,USA Todaybreaks the traditional newspaper layout. Some examples of its divergence from tradition include using the left-hand quarter of each section as "reefers" (front-page paragraphsreferringto stories on inside pages[50]), sometimes using sentence-lengthblurbsto describe stories inside. The lead reefer is the cover page feature "Newsline", which shows summarized descriptions of headline stories featured in all four main sections and any special sections. As a national newspaper,USA Todaycannot focus on the weather for any one city. Therefore, the entire back page of the News section is used for weather maps of thecontinental United States,Puerto Ricoand theU.S. Virgin Islands,as well as temperature lists for many cities throughout the U.S. and the world. Temperatures for individual cities on the primary forecast map and temperature lists are suffixed with a one- or two-letter code, such as "t" forthunderstorms,referencing the expected weather conditions. The colorized forecast map was created by staff designer George Rorick (who leftUSA Todayfor a similar position atThe Detroit Newsin 1986) and was copied by newspapers around the world, breaking from the traditional style of monochrome contouring or simplistic text to denote temperature ranges.[16][51]National precipitation maps for the next three days (the next five days before the 2012 redesign) and four-day forecasts andair quality indexesfor 36 major U.S. cities (16 cities prior to 1999), with individual cities color-coded by the temperature contour corresponding to the given area on the forecast map, are also featured. Weather data is provided byAccuWeather,which has served as the forecast provider forUSA Todayfor most of the paper's existence (except from January 2002 to September 2012, when forecast data was provided byThe Weather Channelthrough a long-term multimedia content agreement with Gannett).[52][53][54][55][56]In the bottom left-hand corner of the weather page is "Weather Focus", a graphic which explains various meteorological phenomena. On some days, the Weather Focus could be a photo of a rare meteorological event.

On business holidays or days when bonus sections are included in the issue, the Money and Life sections are usually combined into one section, while combinations of the Friday Life editions into one section are common during quiet weeks. Advertising is often covered in the Monday Money section, with a review of a recent television ad, and afterSuper Bowl Sunday,a review of the ads aired during the broadcast with the results of theAd Tracklive survey. Stock tables for individual stock exchanges (comprising one subsection for companies traded on theNew York Stock Exchange,and another for companies trading onNASDAQand theAmerican Stock Exchange) andmutual indexeswere discontinued with the 2012 redesign due to the myriad electronic ways to check individual stock prices, in line with most newspapers.

Book coverage, including reviews and a national sales chart which debuted on October 28, 1994, is seen on Thursdays in Life, with the fullA.C. Nielsen television ratingschart printed on Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on release. The paper also publishes theMediabasesurvey for several genres of music based on radio airplay on Tuesdays, along with their own chart of the top ten singles in general on Wednesdays. Because of the same limitations as its nationalized forecasts, the television page in Life, which providesprime timeandlate nightlistings (running from 8:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.Eastern Time), incorporates boilerplate "Local news"or"Local programming"descriptions to denote time periods in which the five major English language broadcast networks (ABC,NBC,CBS,FoxandThe CW) cede airtime to allow theirownedandaffiliatedstations to carrysyndicated programsor local newscasts. The television page has never carried local scheduling information similar to those in local newspapers. Like most national papers,USA Todayhas nocomic strips.

USA Todayis headquartered inTysons Corner, Virginia.

One of the staples of the News section is "Across the USA", a state-by-state roundup of headlines. The summaries consist of paragraph-lengthAssociated Pressreports highlighting one story in each state, theDistrict of Columbia,and oneU.S. territory.Similarly, the "For the Record" page of the Sports section (which features sports scores for the previous four days of league play plus individual non-league events, seasonal league statistics and wagering lines for that day's games) previously featured a rundown of winning numbers from the previous deadline date forall participating state lotteriesand individual multi-state lotteries.

Some traditions have been retained. Thelead storystill appears on the upper-right side of the front page. Commentary and political cartoons occupy the last few pages of the News section. Stock and mutual fund data are presented in the Money section. ButUSA Todayis sufficiently different in aesthetics to be recognized on sight, even in a mix of other newspapers, such as at anewsstand.The overall design and layout ofUSA Todayhave been described asneo-Victorian.[57]

On most of the sections' front pages, in the lower left-hand corner, are "USA Today Snapshots" graphs, which offer statistics on lifestyle interests according to the section (for example, a snapshot in "Life" could show how many people tend to watch a certain genre of television show based upon their mood). These "Snapshots" graphs employ icons roughly pertaining to the graph's subject (using the example above, the graph's bars could be made up of several TV sets, or ended by one). Snapshots are loosely based on research by a national institute (with the credited source in fine print below the graph).

The newspaper also features an occasional magazine supplement calledOpen Air,which launched on March 7, 2008, and appears several times a year. Otheradvertorialsappear throughout the year, mainly on Fridays.[58][59]

Opinion section

[edit]

The opinion section printsUSA Todayeditorials, columns by guest writers and members of the editorial board of contributors,[60]letters to the editor, and editorial cartoons. One unique feature of theUSA Todayeditorial page is the publication of opposing points of view: alongside the editorial board's piece on the day's topic runs an opposing view by a guest writer, often an expert in the field. The Board of Contributors, which is distinct from the paper's news staff, chooses the opinion pieces that appear in each edition.[61]

From 1999 to 2002 and again from 2004 to 2015, the editorial page editor was Brian Gallagher, who has worked for the newspaper since its founding.[62]Other members of the editorial board included deputy editorial page editor Bill Sternberg, executive forum editor John Siniff, op-ed/forum page editor Glen Nishimura, operations editor Thuan Le Elston, letters editor Michelle Poblete, web content editor Eileen Rivers, and editorial writers Dan Carney, George Hager, and Saundra Torry.[63]The newspaper's website calls this group "demographically and ideologically diverse."[61]

Beginning with the1984 United States presidential election,USA Todaydid not endorse candidates for thePresident of the United Statesor any other state or federal political office, a policy which has been re-evaluated during each four-year election cycle by the paper's Board of Contributors through an independent process, with any decision to override the policy based on a consensus vote in which fewer than two of the editorial board's members dissent or hold differing opinions.[64]For most of its history, the paper's political editorials (most of them linked to the presidential election cycle) had focused instead on major issues based on the differing concerns of voters, the vast array of information on these themes, and the board's aim to offer a fair viewpoint through the diverse political ideologies of its members and avoid reader perceptions of bias.

The avoidance of political editorials played a great part inUSA Today'slong-standing reputation for "fluff", but after its 30th anniversary revamp, the paper took a more active stance on political issues, calling for stronger gun laws after theSandy Hook Elementary School shootingin 2012. It heavily criticized theRepublican Partyfor both the2013 government shutdownand the 2015 revolts in theUnited States House of Representativesthat ended with the resignation ofJohn Boehneras House Speaker. It also called out then-PresidentBarack Obamaand other top members of theDemocratic Partyfor what it perceived as "inaction" during 2013–14, particularly over theNSA scandaland theISIL beheading incidents.

The editorial board broke from its "non-endorsement" policy for the first time on September 29, 2016, when it published an op-ed piece condemning the candidacy ofRepublicannomineeDonald Trump,calling him "unfit for the presidency" due to his inflammatory campaign rhetoric (particularly that aimed at the press, with certain media organizations being openly targeted and even banned from campaign rallies, includingThe New York Times,The Washington Post,CNNand theBBC,military veterans who had been prisoners of war, including 2008 Republican presidential candidate and Vietnam War veteranJohn McCain,immigrants, and various ethnic and religious groups); his temperament and lack of financial transparency; his "checkered" business record; his use of false and hyperbolic statements; the inconsistency of his viewpoints and issues with his vision on domestic and foreign policy; and, based on comments he had made during his campaign and criticisms by bothDemocratsand Republicans on these views, the potential risks to national security and constitutional ethics under a Trump administration, asking voters to "resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue".[65]The board wrote that the piece was not a "qualified endorsement" of Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton,for whom it was unable to reach a consensus (some editorial board members expressed that Clinton's public service record would help her "serve the nation ably as its president", while others had "serious reservations about [her] sense of entitlement, [...] lack of candor and...extreme carelessness in handling classified information"), suggesting insteadtactical votingagainst Trump and GOP seats in swing states, advising voters to decide whether to vote for either Clinton,LibertariannomineeGary Johnson,Green PartynomineeJill Steinor a write-in candidate for president; or to focus on Senate, House and other down-ballot political races.[66][67][68]

In February 2018,USA Todaypublished anop-edbyJerome Corsi,the DC bureau chief for the fringe conspiracy websiteInfoWars.[69][70]Corsi, a prominentconspiracy theorist,was described byUSA Todayas an "author" and "investigative journalist".[69]Corsi was a prominent proponent of thefalse conspiracy theorythat Barack Obama was not a US citizen, and Infowars has promoted conspiracy theories such as9/11 being an "inside job."[69]

In October 2018,USA Todaywas criticized byNBC Newsfor publishing an editorial by President Trump that was replete with inaccuracies.[71]The Washington Postfact-checker said that "almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or a falsehood."[72]

In 2020,USA Todayendorsed a presidential candidate for the first time,DemocraticnomineeJoe Biden.The newspaper also published an opposing editorial by Vice PresidentMike Pence,which called for his and Trump's re-election.[73]

Personnel

[edit]

In May 2012, Larry Kramer, a 40-year media industry veteran and former president of CBS Digital Media, was appointed president and publisher ofUSA Today,replacingDavid Hunke,who had been publisher of the newspaper since 2009.[74]Kramer was tasked with developing a new strategy for the paper as it sought to increase revenue from its digital operations.[75]

In July 2012, Kramer hiredDavid Callaway,whom he had hired as lead editor ofMarketWatchin 1999, two years after Kramer founded that website, as the paper's editor-in-chief. Callaway had previously worked atBloomberg Newscovering banking, investment-banking, and asset management businesses throughout Europe, and at theBoston Herald,where he co-wrote a daily financial column on "comings and goings in the Boston business district".[76]

The editor-in-chief as of February 2018isNicole Carroll.[77]

[edit]

USA Weekend

[edit]
Main article:USA Weekend

USA Weekendwas a sister publication that launched in 1953 asFamily Weekly,a nationalSunday magazinesupplement intended for the Sunday editions of U.S. newspapers. It adopted its final title following Gannett's purchase of the magazine in 1985.[78]The magazine was distributed to approximately 800 newspapers nationwide at its peak, with most Gannett-owned local newspapers carrying it by default within their Sunday editions. It focused on social issues, entertainment, health, food and travel.[78][79]On December 5, 2014, Gannett announced the end ofUSA Weekendafter the December 26–28, 2014 edition, citing increasing operational costs and reduced advertising revenue. Most of its participating newspapers replaced it with the competing Sunday magazineParade.[80][81][82][83][84]

USA Today Sports Weekly

[edit]
Main article:USA Today Sports Weekly

USA Today Sports Weeklyis a weekly magazine that covers news and statistics fromMajor League Baseball,Minor League Baseball,NCAAbaseball, theNational Football League(NFL), andNASCAR.It debuted on April 5, 1991, asUSA Today Baseball Weekly,atabloid-sized publication published weekly on Wednesdays during the baseball season and bi-weekly during the off-season. The magazine expanded its sports coverage on September 4, 2002, adopting a general title after adding stories about the NFL.Sports Weeklyadded coverage of NASCAR on February 15, 2006, which lasted only through that year's race season. It added coverage of NCAA college football on August 8, 2007. The editorial operations ofSports Weeklyoperated independently fromUSA Todayuntil being integrated into the newspaper's sports department in late 2005.[12][85][86]

The Big Lead

[edit]
Main article:The Big Lead

The Big Leadis a sportsblogoperated byUSA Todaythat was launched in February 2006 by Fantasy Sports Ventures, co-founded by Jason McIntyre and David Lessa. In April 2008, the blog established a strategic content and marketing partnership with Gannett. Gannett purchased The Big Lead in January 2012.[87]The site is usually updated 10 to 15 times per day between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It mainly covers sports, but also provides news and commentary on other news topics, ranging from politics topop culture.

USA Today: The Television Show

[edit]

In 1987, Gannett and producer/formerNBCCEOGrant Tinkerbegan developing anews magazineseries forbroadcast syndicationthat attempted to bring the breezy style ofUSA Todayto television.[88]The result wasUSA Today: The Television Show(laterUSA Today on TV,[89]then shortened to simplyUSA Today), which premiered on September 12, 1988.[90]Correspondents on the program included Edie Magnus,Robin Young,Boyd Matson,Kenneth Walker, Dale Harimoto, Ann Abernathy,Bill Macateeand Beth Ruyak. As with the newspaper, the show was divided into four "sections" corresponding to the respective parts of the paper: News (the major headlines), Money (financial news and consumer reports), Sports (sports news and scores) and Life (entertainment and lifestyle stories). The series was syndicated by GTG Marketing, a subsidiary of GTG Entertainment, which promoted it as a prime access magazine show, hoping that stations would air it in a prime time slot.[91]

Throughout its run, the series received poor reviews and low ratings. The program also suffered from being scheduled in poor timeslots in certain markets, likeNew York City,the country's largestmedia market,where CBSO&O stationWCBS-TV(channel 2) aired the program in a pre-dawn slot before it was picked up by NBC O&OWNBCfive months into its run. After airing in the equally weak 5:30 a.m. slot, the series was moved to the more clear-eyed 9:30 a.m., but fared no better[92](in contrast,CITY-DTinToronto,Ontario,Canada[which became theflagshipof theCitytvtelevision network], ran it at 5:00 p.m.).[93]The series was renewed for a second season, but the setbacks led to the mid-season cancellation of the TV version ofUSA Todayin November 1989, after one-and-a-half seasons. The final edition aired on January 7, 1990.[94]

Gannett announced plans to develop aUSA Today-branded weekly half-hour television program titledSports Pageas part of a renewed initiative to extend the brand into television but this program, planned for fall 2004, never launched.[12]

VRtually There

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VRtually Therewas a weeklyvirtual realitynews program produced by the USA Today Network, which debuted on October 20, 2016. The program, which was carried on theUSA Todaymobile app and is still available onYouTube,showcased three original segments outlining news stories through a first-person perspective, recorded and produced by journalists fromUSA Todayand its co-owned local newspapers. The program included "cubemercials," lengthy commercials made by Gannett's in-house creative studio, GET Creative, with the goal of enabling consumer engagement in totally immersive experiences through virtual reality.[95][96][97]The last story was uploaded on August 1, 2017, less than a year after the series was created.[98]

For the Win

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USA Todayoperates a sports website calledFor the Win.[99]It was launched in April 2013 and was the first sports property devoted to social news.[100]The sports and sports leagues/organizations covered are theNational Football League(NFL), theNational Basketball Association( NBA ), theWomen's National Basketball Association(W NBA ),National Hockey League(NHL),Major League Baseball(MLB), collegefootball,collegebasketball,motorsports,soccer,golf,outdoor sports, and theAfrican-Americancable television networkBET.A gateway toTicketSmarterto purchase sports and other event tickets is also hosted.

For the Winhas sections covering pop culture and video games. Some articles for the latter are contributed by Good Luck Have Fun (GLHF), which describes itself as a gaming content agency that provides publishers around the globe, such asUSA TodayandSports Illustrated,[101]with text and video.[102]

Over-the-top and FAST channels

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In 2018, Gannett launchedUSA Today-brandedover-the-topchannels,USA Today NewsandUSA Today SportsWire(later renamed as USA Today Sports), which would later relaunched in 2021 asfree ad-supported streaming television(FAST) channels that are available onTubi,The Roku Channel,Xumo Play,Plex,Amazon Freevee,Local NowandSamsung TV Plus.[103]

Award programs

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[edit]

See also

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References

[edit]
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  6. ^"Tysons Corner CDP, Virginia".United States Census Bureau.
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  11. ^Warren, James (September 29, 1991)."Paper Pursues Life After Debt".Chicago Tribune.
  12. ^abcdefghijklmnopqr"USA Today Media Kit:: Press Room:: Press Kit:: Timeline".USA Today.Gannett.
  13. ^abJohn K. Hartman (September 12, 2012)."USA Today Is Turning 30, in Danger of 'Marking 30'".Editor and Publisher.Archived fromthe originalon October 25, 2016.RetrievedOctober 24,2016.
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  16. ^abMario R. García (September 10, 2012)."USA Today turns 30-Part 2 – A newspaper that influenced all of us".García Media.
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  28. ^"USA Today Receives Top IRE Award, Three Gannett Sites Honored as Finalists".Tegna. April 1, 2021.RetrievedJune 21,2021.
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Further reading

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[edit]
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