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Newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps combined three regional news services into the United Press Associations, which began service on July 15, 1907. Scripps founded United Press on the principle that there should be no restrictions on who could buy news from a news service. This formula made UP a direct threat to the monopolistic and exclusionary alliances of the major U.S. and European wire services at the time.
UP's announcement on July 15 said: "It is announced that the United Press will not be run on narrow or monopolistic lines, but will seek to give fair and impartial service to all legitimate newspaper publishers in the field." Scripps later said: "I regard my life's greatest service to the people of this country to be the creation of the United Press," because the competition provided by UP prevented the Associated Press from having a monopoly in determining what news was provided to the public.
On May 24, 1958, United Press merged with International News Service, which had been formed in 1909 by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, to become United Press International. UPI, in later 1958, launches the UPI Audio Network, the first wire service radio network.
UPI was hurt by changes in the modern news business, including the closing of many of America's afternoon newspapers, and was unprofitable for years. It went through seven owners between 1992 and 2000, when it was acquired by News World Communications, owner of the Washington Times. UPI's chief correspondent and most famous reporter, Helen Thomas, promptly resigned, complaining about the Times having links to the Unification Church.
News people who work for UPI are nicknamed "Unipressers." Famous Unipressers from UPI's include journalists Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, and William L. Shirer, who is best remembered today for writing Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Helen ThomasHelen Thomas (born August 4, 1920) is a news service reporter and dean of the White House press corps. She was White House Bureau Chief for United Press International (UPI), where she was employed for 57 years until resigning in 2000 when UPI was acquired retired after 57 years as UPI's Chief White House Correspondent was known as the "Dean of the White House Press Corps". Merriman Smith reported first-hand the deaths of two presidents, being in Warm Springs, GeorgiaWarm Springs is a city located in Meriwether County, Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 485. It first rose to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 90 degre when Franklin Roosevelt suffered his fatal stroke, and in Dallas, TexasDallas redirects here. For other uses see Dallas (disambiguation Dallas is one of the ten largest cities in the United States and the heart of the largest metropolitan area in Texas. It is the county seat of Dallas County and small portions of the city al with John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy ( May 29, 1917 November 22, 1963), often referred to as Jack Kennedy or JFK was the 35th ( 1961 1963) President of the United States. He was the youngest ever to be elected president and the youngest president ever to die in office's motorcade when he was shot. His coverage of the assassination won him the Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a United States literary award given out each April. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the United States. The prize was.
Arnaud De Borchgrave , NewsweekNewsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States. It is the second-largest weekly magazine in the U. having played second fiddle to TIME during its entire career except for brief moments when its a's chief foreign correspondent for 25 years, covering more than 90 countries and 17 wars, is currently UPI Editor-at-Large.