- Nicholas F. Benton
-
Nicholas (Nick) F. Benton is the founder, owner, and editor of the Falls Church News-Press, a weekly newspaper circulated in Falls Church, Virginia, and in parts of Fairfax County, Arlington County, and Washington D.C.
A native of California, Benton earned a degree in English from Westmont College in 1966, where he had an athletic scholarship. After college he was a reporter and sports writer for the Santa Barbara News-Press.[1] He obtained a master of divinity degree in 1969 from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. He became a contributor to the alternative Berkeley Barb, helped found the Berkeley Gay Liberation Front and wrote the first editorial for the newspaper Gay Sunshine.[2]
Benton worked for the Lyndon LaRouche organization from 1974 until the late 1980s, first as a political organizer, and later as the Washington D.C. bureau chief and White House Correspondent for LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review.[3] In 2007, Benton wrote that he had left the LaRouche movement in the 1980s.[4]
Benton founded the Falls Church News-Press in March 1991,[5] and in July 2010 celebrated the paper's 1,000th edition.[2] He has served twice as the president of the local Chamber of Commerce, been named Falls Church's “Pillar of the Community” twice and “Business Person of the Year” once, and had his newspaper named “Business of the Year” twice. He has authored a weekly national affairs column in his newspaper since 1997.[6]
In 2005, Benton founded the “Nicholas F. Benton Diversity Affirmation Education Fund” for the Falls Church City Public Schools.[7]
In 2007 Benton provided an extensive interview for a cover story in the Washington D.C. Metro Weekly.[8] In 2009, an essay he wrote, entitled, “Berkeley and the Fight for an Effeminist, Socially Transformative Gay Identity” was published in a paperback collection published by the City Lights Books to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.[6]
In November 2009, Benton was unsuccessful in a bid to acquire the Washington Blade in the wake of the bankruptcy of the Blade's parent company.[9]
In October 2010, Benton launched a column series published on the Falls Church News-Press website and reprinted in the Metro Weekly entitled, “Nick Benton's Gay Science."[10] In December 2010, he was elected to the newly-created Stonewall LGBT Caucus of the Virginia Democratic Party.[11]
Notes
- ^ Bergholz, Richard "Labor Party Candidate Seeks GOP Aid: Proposes Creation of Nonpartisan Committee to Beat Brown" Los Angeles Times, Mar 14, 1978, pg. C2
- ^ a b Eisele, Al, “A Very Good Week for a Small Town Newspaper Publisher,” Huffington Post, July 26, 2010.
- ^ Toporek undated.
- ^ Benton, Nicholas F., "Nicholas F. Benton: How I Explain LaRouche", article, Falls Church News-Press, June 27, 2007, retrieved April 13, 2010
- ^ Elfman, Lois, “Community Voice,” The Scene magazine, February 2006.
- ^ a b Avicolli Mecca, Tommi (ed.), “Smash the Church, Smash the State: the Early Days of Gay Liberation,” San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2009.
- ^ PR Newswire, “Falls Church News-Press Owner Nicholas F. Benton Donates $10,000 to Falls Church City Schools to Establish Ground-Breaking 'Diversity Affirmation Education Fund',” May 2, 2005.
- ^ O'Bryan, Will (2007). Citizen Nick: Nicholas F. Benton's gay-friendly, progressive paper grows in Falls Church, Metro Weekly, August 9, 2007.
- ^ Pearce, Katie, “Washington Blade Staffers Plan New Venture After Gay Weekly Folds,” The Washington Current, Nov. 18, 2009.
- ^ Metro Weekly, Oct. 14, 2010.
- ^ Mansberger, Terry, “LGBT Democrats Earn a Seat at the Party,” Falls Church News-Press, Dec. 30, 2010.
References
- Eisele, Al, “A Very Good Week for a Small Town Newspaper Publisher,” Huffington Post, July 26, 2010.
- Benton, Nicholas F. (2007). "How I Explain LaRouche", Falls Church News-Press, June 27, 2007.
- Bergholz, Richard. "Labor Party Candidate Seeks GOP Aid," Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1978.
- Elfman, Lois, “Community Voice,” The Scene magazine, February 2006.
- Avicolli Mecca, Tommi (ed.), “Smash the Church, Smash the State: the Early Days of Gay Liberation,” San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2009.
- PR Newswire, “Falls Church News-Press Owner Nicholas F. Benton Donates $10,000 to Falls Church City Schools to Establish Ground-Breaking 'Diversity Affirmation Education Fund',” May 2, 2005.
- O'Bryan, Will (2007). Citizen Nick: Nicholas F. Benton's gay-friendly, progressive paper grows in Falls Church, Metro Weekly, August 9, 2007.
- Pearce, Katie, “Washington Blade Staffers Plan New Venture After Gay Weekly Folds,” The Washington Current, Nov. 18, 2009.
- Metro Weekly, Oct. 14, 2010.
- Mansberger, Terry, “LGBT Democrats Earn a Seat at the Party,” Falls Church News-Press, Dec. 30, 2010.
- O'Bryan, Will (2007). Citizen Nick: Nicholas F. Benton's gay-friendly, progressive paper grows in Falls Church, Metro Weekly, August 9, 2007.
- Osborne, William (1986). "Democrats now take LaRouche seriously", San Diego Union, March 23, 1986.
- Toporek, Bryan (undated). The Life and Times of Nicholas F. Benton, Georgetown Journalism, Georgetown University, accessed September 19, 2009.
External links
Categories:- Living people
- LGBT rights activists from the United States
- Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
- 1944 births
- American newspaper reporters and correspondents
- LaRouche movement
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