Ted Natt (photo courtesy of The Daily News)

Longtime supporter Ted Natt, '63, made a gift of $25,000 to the School for the Allen Hall renovation.

Natt is owner, publisher and editor of The Daily News, a highly respected paper in Longview, Wash., which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 and is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

The family-owned business is still expanding. In July 1997, Natt bought three weeklies: the Lewis River News/Kalama Bulletin, the Columbia County Review, and the Cowlitz County Advocate in Castle Rock. Natt also owns the Enumclaw Courier Herald. His son David, '93, recently joined him as general manager of the weeklies.

Natt said he was motivated to contribute by his desire to see the School build upon its strong
programs.

"There's a fair amount of affection that I hold for the School because it provided me with the tools to become a journalist and an editor and a publisher," he said. "I think it continues to offer a high-quality education for journalists. It's the best undergraduate program on the West Coast. I want it to stay that way. If I can help build it, I want to do that."

The gift to the School's building campaign will help create a new lobby and entrance plaza for Allen Hall.

"Ted's gift is one more example of his ongoing support of the School," said Dean Tim Gleason. "As an alum, a member of the Journalism Advancement Council and a Northwest newspaper publisher, he is always finding ways to help us strengthen the School."

The Daily News was founded in 1923 by Natt's grandfather. After graduating from UO, Natt worked on the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and at The Oregonian as a reporter for 18 months. He attended Stanford University on a Knight Fellowship.

His uncle, who had taken over The Daily News and the family's several other newspapers, asked Natt to edit a semi-weekly in St. Helens. Natt has been with The Daily News 31 years. He became editor in 1974, publisher in 1977, and principal owner in 1986 when his uncle retired and the family sold the rest of its media interests.

When Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1981, The Daily News--now a 25,000-circulation paper--made use of every available talent to get the stories and the photos needed to cover the disaster. All 35 reporters took part in the coverage. Two more were borrowed from sister papers. And one person who wasn't employed as a photographer but knew how to shoot was sent out to take photos, Natt said. The staff threw everything they had into their coverage.

"When your community's existence is at stake, as this one was initially... it was very challenging. Fortunately, we had the reporting talent and the space. We devoted the space we needed to do the job and worried about paying for it later," he said.

The paper won the Pulitzer for the continuous story--for the substance of its work during an entire year.

"We framed the story in human terms. How was this impacting lives and communities, and how were they dealing with the grief and the recovery? By keeping our coverage focused on that context, we just flat out covered the story," he said.

Natt, who served on the Journalism Advancement Council for 13 years, said he is proud to continue the tradition of family newspaper ownership.

"There aren't many of us around," he said.