James D. Ewing

{{Infobox person

| name = James Dennis Ewing

| image =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = January 14, 1917

| birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri

| death_date = January 21, 2002

| death_place =

| death_cause =

| awards = Yankee Quill Award

| occupation =

| title = Publisher and co-owner, The Keene Sentinel

| education = Princeton University

| spouse = Ruth Dewing

| partner =

| children =

| relations =

| website =

| footnotes =

| employer =

}}

James D. Ewing (January 14, 1917 – January 21, 2002) was an American newspaper publisher, government reform advocate and philanthropist. He spent nearly 40 years as publisher and co-owner of The Keene Sentinel in Keene, New Hampshire.

In 1984, Ewing, along with Thomas Winship, an editor at The Boston Globe, and George Krimsky, an Associated Press correspondent and editor, helped to establish the International Center for Journalists, a non-profit that works with journalists from all over the world. One notable trainee, who spent some of his time in training at the newspaper in 1987, was Hamid Karzai, who went on to become the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan.{{Cite web| title=James D. Ewing| url=https://www.icfj.org/about/profiles/james-d-ewing| access-date=August 26, 2020| website=International Center for Journalists| language=en}}

In 1981, Ewing was selected to be a nominating judge for Pulitzer Prizes in journalism.{{Cite news| date=January 5, 1981| title=Nominating Judges Are Chosen for Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism| language=en-US| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/05/nyregion/nominating-judges-are-chosen-for-pulitzer-prizes-in-journalism.html| access-date=August 27, 2020| issn=0362-4331}} Ewing was inducted into the Newspaper Hall of Fame by the New England Newspaper & Press Association, recognized for his outstanding professionalism and accomplishments.{{Cite web| title=New England Newspaper Hall of Fame {{!}} NENPA| url=http://www.nenpa.com/awards-recognition/new-england-newspaper-hall-of-fame/| access-date=October 19, 2020| language=en-US}}

Education

James Dennis Ewing was born on January 14, 1917, in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents were Oscar R. Ewing and Helen (Dennis) Ewing. He attended preparatory school at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and graduated from Princeton University in 1938.{{Cite web| date=January 21, 2016| title=James Dennis Ewing '38| url=https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/james-dennis-ewing-%E2%80%9938| access-date=October 19, 2020| website=Princeton Alumni Weekly| language=en}} Ewing went on to attend Harvard Law School for one year. He received honorary degrees from Keene State College, Franklin Pierce College and the University of New Hampshire.{{Cite web| title=James D. Ewing, co-owner of The Keene Sentinel, dies| url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/special_reports/james-d-ewing-co-owner-of-the-keene-sentinel-dies/article_20d01b53-5f4f-564a-a752-7681faa4524c.html| access-date=August 26, 2020| website=SentinelSource.com| language=en}}

Background and career

After graduating from Princeton in 1938, Ewing attended Harvard Law for a year, before leaving to teach Latin and Greek at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. In 1942, after two years of teaching, he left to work for the National War Labor Board in Washington, D.C., during World War II. He met and married his wife, Ruth Dewing, in September 1943.{{Cite web| title=Ruth Ewing 1915 - 2014 - Obituary| url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/ledgertranscript/169881050| access-date=August 27, 2020| website=www.legacy.com |language=en}}{{Cite news| date=August 24, 1943| title=Ruth R. Dewing Engaged; Will Be Wed to Ensign James D. Ewing of Navy Next Month |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/08/24/archives/ruth-r-dewing-engaged-will-be-wed-to-ensign-james-d-ewing-of-navy.html |access-date=August 28, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}

Ewing had previously been denied enlistment into the Navy due to his eyesight, but was accepted on his second attempt and assigned to labor relations in Detroit. There, he and his wife met Russell H. Peters, a journalist who had worked with the Omaha Daily Bee and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Together, they formed a partnership and in 1946 they purchased the Bangor Daily Commercial (also known as the Bangor Evening Commercial), a newspaper in Maine.{{Cite journal |last=Richard |first=Mike |date=August 16, 1999 |title=Ewing, James D. oral history interview |url=https://scarab.bates.edu/muskie_oh/130 |journal=Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection}} The Ewings became sole owners of the Bangor Commercial after Peters sold his interest to them in 1952. However, in January 1954 the operation was shuttered due to financial losses; publication of the Bangor Sunday Commercial lasted from 1953 to 1954.{{Cite news |publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities |title=Bangor Daily Commercial. [volume] |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045514/ |access-date=August 26, 2020}}{{Cite web |title=Bangor Daily Commercial (Bangor, Me.) 1872-1949 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83045514/ |access-date=August 26, 2020 |website=Library of Congress}}{{Cite magazine |date=January 25, 1954 |title=The Press: Costs & the Commercial |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823255,00.html |access-date=August 28, 2020 |issn=0040-781X}}

Shortly afterwards, the Ewings met Walter Paine, and in October 1954, they purchased the Keene Evening Sentinel{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.) 1972-Current|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn90062404/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-19|website=Library of Congress}} from the family of John Prentiss, who had recently died.{{Cite web |title=The Stories Behind the Nation's Oldest Newspapers – 24/7 Wall St. |url=https://247wallst.com/special-report/2018/10/24/the-stories-behind-the-nations-oldest-newspapers/ |access-date=August 26, 2020 |language=en-US}} In 1956 the Ewings and Paine purchased the Valley News in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and five years later they purchased the Argus-Champion in New London, New Hampshire. In 1961, Ewing received Honorable Mention in the Svellon Brown Awards, the award recognizes an individual for producing journalism of distinction.https://sentinelsource.com/app/resources/sentinel_history.pdf Newspapers, by Grace Prentiss{{Cite web|title=AP Sevellon Brown NE Journalist of the Year {{!}} NENPA|url=http://www.nenpa.com/awards-recognition/ap-sevellon-brown-ne-journalist-of-the-year/|access-date=2020-10-19|language=en-US}}

The Ewings sold their interest in the Valley News in 1980 and took over full ownership of the Sentinel; In 1981 they sold their interest in the Argus-Champion. James and Ruth retired from the newspaper business in 1993, after selling the Sentinel to their nephew, Thomas Ewing.

Politics and philosophy

James Ewing was a strong supporter of Edmund S. Muskie and earlier, in the 1952 primary, the Bangor Commercial was the only area newspaper to voice opposition to Ralph Owen Brewster. In a 1999 interview, Ewing was asked to describe his political philosophy; the conversation was in the context of the Bangor Commercial and his opposition to Brewster. Ewing responded that he considered himself as an independent but on the liberal side and added that the more forward, or liberal thinking came from the Republicans at that time, not from the Democratic Party. He went on to describe how his newspaper went after Brewster "hammer and tongs" in opposition to him, and a lot of what they had printed was picked up and reprinted by the opposing campaign.{{Cite web|title=Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection {{!}} Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library {{!}} Bates College|url=https://scarab.bates.edu/muskie_oh/|access-date=2020-12-25|website=scarab.bates.edu}} Brewster, himself, cited Ewing as a significant contributor to his defeat. In an interview, Kay Cutler, a good friend of the Ewings, referred to the defeat as the Bangor Daily Commercial's "shining hour".{{Cite journal|last=L'Hommedieu|first=Andrea|date=2002-04-04|title=Cutler, Kay oral history interview|url=https://scarab.bates.edu/muskie_oh/107|journal=Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection}} Time magazine described the Commercial as "an independent, liberal voice in the conservative woods of Maine journalism."

During his time with the Sentinel, he successfully pushed for improvements to the New Hampshire welfare department, public housing, and revisions to Keene's city charter, including freedom of information laws.

Ewing believed that a newspaper had an obligation to inform its readers and help them make responsible decisions. He maintained a larger newsroom that was outside of industry standards and insisted on printing a large share of international articles, in adherence to his belief that the readers should be exposed to other parts of a "shrinking world".

Awards and recognition

1961 - Honorable Mention in the Svellon Brown Awards, for meritorious and distinguished service to its public, New England Newspaper and Press Association
1987 - Yankee Quill Award, Society of Professional Journalists, for outstanding contributions to New England journalism{{Cite web |title=Yankee Quill {{!}} NENPA |url=http://www.nenpa.com/awards-recognition/yankee-quill/ |access-date=August 28, 2020 |language=en-US}}
New Hampshire Award from the New Hampshire Press Association{{Cite web |title=James D. Ewing World Affairs Lecture – Academic Affairs Resources and Programs |url=https://dept.keene.edu/aa/james-d-ewing-world-affairs-lecture/ |access-date=August 28, 2020 |language=en-US}}
New England Newspaper Hall of Fame, New England Newspaper and Press Association, James D. Ewing, The Keene Sentinel{{Cite web |title=New England Newspaper Hall of Fame {{!}} NENPA |url=http://www.nenpa.com/awards-recognition/new-england-newspaper-hall-of-fame/ |access-date=August 28, 2020 |language=en-US}}

Philanthropic works

The James D. Ewing Lecture on Ethics in Journalism, at Duke University, endowed by Ewing{{Cite web |url=https://dewitt.sanford.duke.edu/special-events/ewing-lecture-on-ethics/ |title=The James D. Ewing Lecture on Ethics in Journalism |website=Dewitt Wallace Center}}
Co-founder, International Center for Journalists
The Ruth and James Ewing Arts Awards{{Cite web |title=Ewing Arts Awards — Discover Monadnock Arts Alive! |url=https://monadnockartsalive.org/ewing-arts-awards |access-date=August 28, 2020 |website=Arts Alive & Discover Monadnock |language=en-US}}
New Hampshire Humanities Council, founded in 1973{{Cite web |title=James D. Ewing World Affairs Lecture |url=https://www.keene.edu/administration/academic-affairs/ewing/ |access-date=August 28, 2020 |website=www.keene.edu |language=en}}

References

Category:1917 births

Category:2002 deaths

Category:20th-century American newspaper publishers (people)

Category:Hotchkiss School alumni

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Mass media people from St. Louis

Category:20th-century American philanthropists