Jim Bellows

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Jim Bellows is considered to be one of the most influential figures in American journalism of the 20th century. Bellows was born to a wealthy Ohio family, attended prep school in Connecticut and graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1944 with a B.A. in philosophy. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he took a job as a reporter for the Columbus Ledger in Georgia and quickly was given tougher assignments as his editors discovered his talent.

Bellows served as editor of the New York Herald Tribune (1961-1967), associate editor of the Los Angeles Times (1967-1974), editor of the Washington Star (1975-1978), editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner (1978-1981), managing editor of Entertainment Tonight (1981-1983), executive editor of ABC News: World News Tonight (1983-1986), and positions at USA Today on TV, Prodigy, the Los Angeles Daily News, and others.

As an editor for these underdog, "second" newspapers in large cities, Bellows established a reputation as an innovator whose style of refined sensationalism challenged the leading rival newspapers--namely, The Washington Post and The New York Times. His eloquent yet minimalist and often humorous and self-effacing style inspired a new generation of young writers including Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin and Joseph Farah. Bellows's acclaimed memoir, The Last Editor (book): How I saved the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times from Dullness and Complacency (2002), which was also made into a PBS documentary, chronicles his (unsuccessful) fight to save the underdog papers at a time when newspapers were the dominant media in some of the most turbulent times of the United States.