Nelson Poynter was an American newspaper publisher who owned and published the St. Petersburg Times, now known as the Tampa Bay Times, and founded what is now the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Poynter also founded Congressional Quarterly (CQ), a publication that profiles members of Congress and tracks their voting record. Poynter died in 1978 and was described as a “liberal” with “usually Democratic political loyalties.” ^{1 2}

Early Life and Education

Nelson Poynter was born in 1903 in Sullivan, Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University in 1925, where he was editor of the student newspaper and led a campaign against local members of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1927 he earned a master’s degree in economics from Yale. Earlier in his career he worked for Scripps-Howard and other national publishing companies in multiple cities including Tokyo, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. ³

During World War II, Poynter served under General “Wild Bill” Donovan and assisted in activating the U.S. Information Agency, which administers Voice of America, a U.S. government-operated radio broadcasting company founded to combat Nazi propaganda. ⁴

Publishing Career

Nelson Poynter’s father, Paul Poynter, had purchased the St. Petersburg Times (renamed the Tampa Bay Times in 2011) in 1912, moving his family from Indiana. He hired Nelson Poynter as an editor and the general manager at the newspaper in 1938. Following his service during World War II, Nelson Poynter purchased the newspaper from his father and was publisher of the newspaper until his death in 1978. ⁵

Nelson Poynter’s leadership of the St. Petersburg Times earned him a reputation as a “fighting editor.” Under his leadership, the newspaper was among the first in the South to oppose racial segregation. Poynter used the newspaper to direct attention to campaign finance regulation, highway construction, and federal funding for research on citrus juice processing. ⁶

Congressional Quarterly

Nelson Poynter and his first wife, Henrietta, founded Congressional Quarterly in 1945. CQ, as it later became known, was created after Poynter discovered that there was no “handy” reference guide available with information regarding what a given member of Congress was voting for or sponsoring. CQ became the first collection of congressional roll call votes and later introduced analysis and other information on major pieces of legislation before Congress. ⁷

Congressional Quarterly was owned by the Times Publishing Company until it was sold to the UK-based Economist Group and merged with Roll Call in 2009. ⁸

Poynter Institute for Media Studies

Among Nelson Poynter’s most notable accomplishments was founding the Modern Media Institute as a school for journalists in 1975. Upon his death in 1978, Poynter willed his controlling interest in the St. Petersburg Times Company (later renamed to the Times Publishing Company) to the institute, which was renamed the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in honor of Poynter. ⁹

Political Affiliation

Nelson Poynter was described as a “liberal” who “retained his usually Democratic political loyalties in the midst of ultraconservative St. Petersburg” by his biographer Robert Pierce, a journalism professor at the University of Florida. ¹⁰

1. A Sacred Trust: Nelson Poynter and the St. Petersburg Times.” Publishers Weekly. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8130-1234-6
2. “Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
3.  “Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
4. Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
5. Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
6. “Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
7. “Nelson Poynter.” Washington Post. June 18, 1978. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1978/06/18/nelson-poynter/6c6931db-4795-4dcf-b48c-e61df9bcedcb/
8. Brook, Stephen. “The Economist Group Buys Congressional Quarterly.” The Guardian. July 22, 2009. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jul/22/congressional-quarterly-the-economist-group
9. “Nelson Poynter’s 1978 obit: ‘I’ll haunt you like the devil’ if my wishes aren’t carried out.” Poynter Institute for Media Studies. June 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2018/nelson-poynters-1978-obit-ill-haunt-you-like-the-devil-if-my-wishes-arent-carried-out/
10. A Sacred Trust: Nelson Poynter and the St. Petersburg Times.” Publishers Weekly. Accessed July 16, 2022. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8130-1234-6