Knight Newspapers, Inc., received the 1974 Citation of Merit from the American Society of Journalism School Administrators at the AEJ convention in San Diego. The award was presented to Derick Daniels, Knight vice president/news, in recognition of the group's “overall excellence in coverage of events and issues” while fostering freedom of editorial expression within each member newspaper.
Daniels is the grandson of Josephus Daniels, founder of the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, still owned by the Daniels family. The 45-year-old Knight newspaper executive was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1950 with a degree in journalism. After reporting for the Durham (N. C.) Morning Herald, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and the Atlanta Constitution, he became city editor of Knight's Miami Herald and executive editor of the Detroit Free Press. Under his direction, the Free Press won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished local reporting in 1968. His talk to the ASJSA awards luncheon is printed below.
