THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230338
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Frank Batten, chairman of Landmark Communications Inc., will receive the 1996 Isaiah Thomas Award in Newspaper Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Printing Management and Sciences. The award will be presented Wednesday at RIT in Rochester, N.Y.
Batten is the 17th recipient of the national award, joining such newspaper industry luminaries as Katharine Graham, chairwoman of The Washington Post, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, and Allen H. Neuharth, former chairman of Gannett Co.
The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the newspaper printing business. It is named for Isaiah Thomas, an American patriot who in 1779 established an anti-British print shop and who is said to have accompanied Paul Revere on his famous ride to rouse the militia.
Batten began his newspaper career as a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and the now-defunct The Norfolk Ledger-Star. He worked in the advertising and circulation departments of the newspapers before being named publisher in 1954.
Batten became chairman of Norfolk-based Landmark in 1967. The privately held media company's holdings include seven daily newspapers, including The Virginian-Pilot; 32 nondaily newspapers; two television stations; and The Weather Channel and The Travel Channel cable networks.
Batten has served on a number of professional associations and is a past chairman of the board of The Associated Press. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Frank Batten
by CNB