Lester Markel (January 9, 1894 – October 23, 1977) was an American journalist, editor, lecturer, and a significant advocate for the freedom of the press.
Lester Markel attended City College of New York for two years and received a Bachelor of Letters degree (Litt.
[2] Markel began his career in the newspaper business as a sportswriter and Linotype machine operator for the Northside News, a neighborhood paper in the Bronx.
[2] In 1923, Adolph S. Ochs hired Markel as editor for what was then the unremarkable Sunday department of the New York Times.
[7] During the reorganization, Markel also established the "Review of the Week" section which earned him and the Times a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 with a special citation "for the section of its Sunday newspaper edited by Lester Markel and headed, 'Review of the Week,' which for seventeen years has brought enlightenment and intelligent commentary to its readers.
Monroe continued with her views on presidential politics, with comments on Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and others.
In October, 1950, Lester Markel brought 34 editors from 15 countries to Columbia University in New York City for an initial discussion regarding the exchange of information among nations and the freedom of the press.
[12] He subsequently convinced the American Society of Newspaper Editors to establish a five-person commission to further explore these topics.
[14] He was joined on the program by prominent New York Times colleagues Clifton Daniel, James Reston, and Tom Wicker, Pulitzer-prize winner Max Frankel, and Washington-insider Douglass Cater.
[15] After his retirement in 1968 and until his death in 1977, Markel continued to work as a freelance writer and consultant and was appointed a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
[1] In his active retirement, Markel wrote "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You," which summarized his philosophy after four decades of experience in the newspaper business.
Markel argued that "Opinion must be held, almost religiously, to the editorial page; interpretation is an essential part of the news."