USA Today

USA Today is a national American newspaper published by the Gannett Corporation. The paper has the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States (averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday), and among English-language broadsheets, it comes second world-wide, behind The Times of India. Its circulation figures are a matter of some dispute, however, as USA Today has many contracts ensuring distribution in hotels, often to customers unaware they are paying for the newspaper. USA Today is distributed to all 50 states and was founded by Allen "Al" Neuharth.

Related Topics:
American - Newspaper - Gannett Corporation - Circulation - Broadsheet - The Times of India - Allen "Al" Neuharth

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Colorful and bold, with many large diagrams, charts, and photographs, USA Today was founded in 1982 with the goal of providing an alternative to the relatively colorless, wordy, gray papers of the time such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. USA Today is also well-known for its national polls on public sentiment.

Related Topics:
Diagrams - Charts - Photographs - 1982 - The Wall Street Journal - The New York Times - Poll

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Early on, the newspaper strived to set itself apart in distribution methods as well. The paper is still sold in unique newspaper racks with curved edges that some say resemble television sets more than newspaper racks. USA Today was also eager to latch onto the business traveler and as such, was heavily distributed through airlines, airports, and hotels in addition to other sales outlets. The newspaper was also among the first newspapers to use satellite transmissions to send the final edition of the newspaper to multiple locations across the country for printing and final distribution in those regional markets. The innovation of using satellites and regional printing hubs allowed the paper to push back deadlines and include the most recent news and sports scores in each edition.

Related Topics:
Television - Satellite - Printing

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The paper has proved to be a consumer success. However, some critics have accused it of trivializing news stories. It has a distinct prose style, which infrequently uses subordinate clauses in sentences, and tends to have no more than three brief sentences per paragraph, meant to allow for easier reading. As a result, in its early days it was derisively referred to as 'McPaper' or 'McNewspaper' in a reference to the simplicity and fast-food of McDonald's (which now distributes it). However, the style of using color, graphics and smaller features has been imitated by other printed newspapers and magazines. Its sports pages are particularly popular because of this and its broad range of coverage.

Related Topics:
Prose - Clause - Sentences - Paragraph - McDonald's - Style - Sports

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From its start in 1982 until fall 2001, Larry King was a columnist for USA Today.

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In 2001, the newspaper moved into its new 30 acre (120,000 m²) headquarters in McLean, in Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., not far from its former headquarters in the old USA Today building in Arlington County, Virginia.

Related Topics:
McLean - Fairfax County, Virginia - Washington, D.C. - Arlington County, Virginia

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On September 7, 2005 the newsstand price of a USA Today newspaper was upped from 50 cents (the paper's price since 1985) to 75 cents.

Related Topics:
September 7 - 2005 - Newsstand

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