Norman Brown

Notable work and positions

Anchorage Daily News (originally the Anchorage News) - Founder and First Publisher (1946)
Anchorage Times - Former Managing Editor

Biography

Norman Cole Brown (1901-1996) founded the Anchorage Daily News, publishing its first issue as the weekly Anchorage News on January 13, 1946. A former managing editor at the rival Anchorage Times, Brown established the new paper as an alternative voice in Anchorage's post-World War II newspaper market. He became a leader in the short-lived mid-1950s movement to make Alaska a commonwealth rather than a state, aligning with the statehood views of businessman Cap Lathrop, who was widely believed to be a behind-the-scenes backer of the paper. Under Brown's leadership the Anchorage News became an afternoon daily in May 1948. The paper he founded went on to win three Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service, in 1976, 1989 and 2020, and remains Alaska's largest daily newspaper.