Scripps: The Divided Dynasty: A History of the First Family of American Journalism

A biography of the newspaper baron recalls E. W. Scripps and his Penny Papers, his hard-drinking ways, and his feuds with family members. By the author of The Hearsts: Father and Son. 40,000 first printing. 50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

This encomium to the Scripps family depicts behavior that Casserly attempts to pass off as eccentric or quirky, but that most people would characterize as vicious. Dynasty founder Edward W. Scripps (1854-1926) built an empire on the so-called Penny Papers, which spoke for the proletariat. He trained his dependable and talented son Jim, the oldest of his four children, to manage the empire, then disinherited him. Jim and his brother Bob battled for control of the chain. In 1920 the founder named Bob and Roy Howard, the head of UPI, which the family owned, to run the Scripps-Howard papers. Jim died in 1921 and that same year his widow and two sons, Ed and James, set up the Scripps League Newspapers, concentrating on small-town papers. It now owns 25 papers, incuding 18 dailies, and 23 shoppers (free) with an estimated readership of more than a million. Bob died in 1938 and his offspring continued to run the Scripps-Howard chain. The story of family infighting, padded with chapters about the social doings of Ed and his wife and the views of some of his editors on newspapering, is at best a footnote to Vance Trimble's The Astounding Mr. Scripps. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Casserly had the full cooperation of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Scripps in writing this account of the history of the Scripps League of Newspapers. The Scripps dynasty created the first popular press with its Penny Papers, launched the nation's first major chain of newspapers, and was the principal founder of United Press. However, the Scripps journalism empire was plagued by family feuds, beginning when the elder E. W. cast his son Jim out of the business in 1921 and culminating in the 1951 decision of Jim's son, the younger E. W., to create his own chain. While the E. W. Scripps Company, or Scripps Howard Company, concentrated on big-city papers, the younger E. W. decided to build his chain out of smaller community papers, such as the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, and the Napa Valley Register. Today the Scripps League is made up of 25 small-town papers, including 18 dailies, as well as 23 free "shoppers." Though this bland, plodding, and one-sided account seems barely to skim the surface of the Scripps story, it does provide information on an important part of the history of American journalism. Casserly also wrote The Hearsts: Father and Son. Mary Ellen Quinn