Warren Wheat, who showed how and why small daily newspapers can make political endorsements, dies at 83

Warren Wheat, who helped start USA Today and ended his career as editor of a small daily newspaper that took the unusual step of endorsing candidates in almost every local election, died Sunday in Lexington, Ky. He was 83.

He retired as editor of The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown, Ky., in 2009 after 55 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and South Carolina. He was Columbus bureau chief for The Cincinnati Enquirer, worked in the Enquirer's and Gannett News Service's Washington bureaus, and was part of the initial team that launched USA Today in 1982, serving as deputy Washington editor and later reader editor for the editorial page. He was governance and national editor at The State in Columbia, S.C., before becoming editor in Elizabethtown in 2002.

The page on which Wheat began election endorsements; click to enlarge

Soon after he arrived, Wheat concluded that the newspaper should make endorsements in local elections, because growth in Hardin County had limited citizens' personal contact with candidates and created more partisan competition. He told readers, “It would be a lot more comfortable to avoid controversy by sitting on the sidelines during this election season. But members of the editorial board felt it is this newspaper’s duty and responsibility to fulfill its role as a voice in the community we serve by providing leadership and guidance for our readers.” The News-Enterprise gradually expanded the number of races in which it made endorsements, including even those with small constituencies, such as school-board member. But as its staff shrank after he left, it was less able to do that, and finally stopped.

A brief service for Wheat will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 29, at First United Methodist Church in downtown Lexington. Pictures will be on display at 10:30 a.m. The family requests that instead of flowers, donations be made to the scholarship established in Wheat's honor at the journalism school of his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, at this site, or by checks to College of Communication and Information, Attn: Director of Philanthropy, 308 Lucille Little Library, Lexington KY 40506.