Carr Van Anda

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Carr Vattel Van Anda (b. 1864 in Georgetown, Ohio; d.1945) was the managing editor of The New York Times under Adolph Ochs, from 1904 to 1924.

Van Anda was an academic, studying astronomy and physics at Ohio University, and started in journalism at The Cleveland Herald and Gazette and later The Baltimore Sun[1] before being picked up by Adolph Simon Ochs, who valued intelligent and accurate news reporting.

Van Anda gave to political and scientific news coverage the same zeal normally reserved for sports and celebrity. Fluent in hieroglyphics, he secured near-exclusive coverage of the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter in 1923. He famously corrected a mathematical error in a speech given by Albert Einstein that was to be printed in the Times.[2]

He was instrumental in getting a scoop for The Times on the story of the Titanic's sinking in 1912. While other newspapers were printing the White Star Line's ambiguous story about the Titanic having trouble after hitting an iceberg, Van Anda figured that a lack of communication from the ship meant that the worst had happened and printed a headline stating that the Titanic had sunk.[3]

The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University gives the "Carr Van Anda Award" to recognize outstanding work by journalists during their careers.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carr Van Anda. Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
  2. ^ "The Kingdom And The Cabbage", 1977-08-15. 
  3. ^ "Titanic's Achilles Heel, The History Channel". 

[edit] Sources


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