USA Todayis an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, USA Today operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virginia. Its newspaper is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. Its dynamic design influenced the style of local, regional, and national newspapers worldwide through its use of concise reports, colorized images, informational graphics, and inclusion of popular culture stories, among other distinct features.
With a weekly print circulation of 726,906, a digital-only subscriber base of 504,000, and an approximate daily readership of 2.6 million, USA Today is ranked first by circulation on the list of newspapers in the United States. It has been shown to maintain a generally centrist audience, in regards to political persuasion. USA Today is distributed in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and an international edition is distributed in Asia, Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Islands.
History
The genesis of USA Today was on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with Gannett chairman Al Neuharth in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to develop a national newspaper. Early regional prototypes included East Bay Today, an Oakland, California-based publication published in the late 1970s to serve as the morning edition of the Oakland Tribune, an afternoon newspaper which Gannett owned at the time.[11] On June 11, 1981, Gannett printed the first prototypes of the proposed publication. The two proposed design layouts were mailed to newsmakers and prominent leaders in journalism, for review and feedback.[8][12] Gannett's board of directors approved the launch of the national newspaper, titled USA Today, on December 5, 1981. At launch, Neuharth was appointed president and publisher of the newspaper, adding those responsibilities to his existing position as Gannett's chief executive officer.
