THE POLITICAL EXPTRESS: Several Pennsylvania governors in the mid-19th century launched their careers in the newsroom….
[Edwin A. Van ]Valkenburg (1869-1932) was one of the most colorful of the lot. What is intriguing about him is that he first drew attention as the editor of the Wellsboro Republican Advocate, a small country paper in the northern tier. But it was Van’s 25-year stint as editor of the Philadelphia North American where he exerted his greatest influence…
“He knew everybody and everything. He printed everything,” wrote [journalists Lincoln] Steffens. “Threatened with assassination, he simply moved his desk out of range of the window and went right on getting and publishing the evidence, the libelous, uncontradicted facts.”… (more)
