U.S. News & World Report to Celebrate 80 Years of Excellence in Service Journalism

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, the multi-platform publisher of news and information, will start celebrating its 80^th anniversary today.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100603/PH13717LOGO )

Founded in 1933 by David Lawrence, it was at that time called the United States News and was a weekly newspaper. Lawrence's goal was to provide a flow of serious and useful information about what he called "the news of national and international affairs."

"David Lawrence was an innovator and newsman in the classic sense," said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report. "His opinions were firm, but they never overrode the reporter's instinct to get to the bottom of a story. He cared about getting the facts right."

In 1940, the United States News switched into a magazine format. This created a boost in both circulation and advertising revenue. It was in 1946 that the World Report magazine was created by Lawrence, and it was dedicated to international news. In 1948 the two publications merged and became what is today known as U.S. News & World Report.

The first News You Can Use® column was published in 1952, and has since become the best slogan to describe U.S. News. It has always been a priority to provide the best information possible so that consumers can make important life decisions. By 1958, circulation of the weekly news magazine surpassed the one million mark.

"U.S. News has long been a pioneer in its field," Kelly said. "In 1973 we invested in a new technology, Atex, which allowed electronic workflow and composition of editorial pages. After our success it became the standard for other magazines and newspapers around the world."

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s U.S. News flourished and operated successful book and newsletter divisions.  In 1984, U.S. News was sold to Mortimer B. Zuckerman, and under his leadership the company expanded its Best Colleges franchise and launched two of its other most popular franchises, Best Graduate Schools and Best Hospitals.

Continuing the tradition of being a leader in its field, U.S. News entered the digital world in 1993 by providing content to CompuServe, and in 1995 launched the website usnews.com.  In 2001, usnews.com won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online.

The last print issue of U.S. News & World Report's monthly magazine was published in December 2010, thus completing the transition from print to digital. This has made it possible for U.S. News to continue its brand of service journalism by introducing several new rankings products to help improve consumers' lives, while still maintaining the news and analysis content. The audience has grown to more than 20 million a month.

"The form has changed but the core values of what we do are remarkably similar to what David Lawrence invented," said Kelly. "I think the need for trusted, useful information will be around 80 years from now."

About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Personal Finance, Education, Travel, Cars and Public Service/Opinion, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. U.S. News & World Report's signature franchise includes its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its annual "Best" series of consumer Web guides and publications that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans and more.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report

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