Joseph E. Atkinson
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Joseph Edward Atkinson (December 23, 1865 – May 7, 1948) was a Canadian newspaper editor and activist. Under his leadership the Toronto Star became one of the most largest and most influential newspapers in Canada. Atkinson amassed a considerable fortune, eventually holding the controlling interest in the paper he edited. On his death control of the paper passed to the trustees of the Atkinson Foundation, a major canadian charity.
Atkinson was born near Newcastle, Ontario in 1865. His early life was difficult, creating conditions which would eventually lead to his social activism. His father died when he was six months old, his mother when he was fourteen.
At the age of eighteen he went to work for the Port Hope Times in Port Hope, Ontario. In 1888, he jumped to the Toronto World and four months later joined the Globe, one of the newspapers which would become The Globe and Mail. After two years, he became the Globe's Ottawa correspondent, a position he held for seven years. Atkinson then became managing editor of the Montreal Herald.
In 1899 he was recruited by a group of Liberal leaders to become managing editor and co-owner of the Toronto Evening Star. Atkinson's task was to save a failing newspaper, competing in a conservative city with six daily newspapers. He accepted the job on condition that he be paid mostly in stock, and started on January 1, 1900. Atkinson succeeded in turning the fortunes of the paper around and by 1913 it had the largest circulation of any Toronto newspaper. He continued to run the Star until his death in 1948 at the age of 82.
[edit] Further reading
- Harkness, Ross (1963).J. E. Atkinson of the Star.Toronto : University of Toronto Press.
- Trista Vincent (1999). "Manufacturing Concern". Ryerson Review of Journalism (Spring): –.
