Edward Willis Scripps

E. W. Scripps
A newspaper cutout of E.W. Scripps, circa 1912.
Born	Edward Willis Scripps (1854-06-18)June 18, 1854 Rushville Schuyler County Illinois, US
Died	March 12, 1926(1926-03-12) (aged 71) Monrovia Liberia, West Africa
Occupation	Publisher, publishing magnate
Years active	1878–1926
Known for	Founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, (1878) Scripps Institution of Oceanography, (1907) United Press International, (1908; later known as "UPI News Service") "Science Service", (1921; later known as "Society for Science & the Public")
Spouse(s)	Nackie Benson Holtsinger (1866–1930)
Children	James George Scripps (1886–1921) John Paul Holtsinger Scripps (1889–1914) Dolla Blair Scripps (1890–1954) Edward MacLean Scripps (1891–1898) Robert Paine Scripps (1895–1938) Nackey Scripps Meanley (1898–1981)
Parent(s)	James Mogg Scripps Julia Adeline Osborne
Relatives	James E. Scripps, (1835–1906; half-brother) Ellen Browning Scripps, (1836–1932; half-sister) Samuel H. Scripps, (1927–2007; grandson)

Edward Willis "E.W." Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher and founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press news service. It became United Press International (UPI) when International News Service merged with United Press in 1958. The E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University is named for him.

E. W. Scripps was born and raised in Rushville, Illinois, to James Mogg Scripps from London, and Julia Adeline Osborne (third wife) (1855 - 1937) from New York. E. W. was the youngest of five children born to James and Julia. James had seven children from previous marriages.

E. W., as with many businessmen of his day, went by his initials rather than writing out his first and middle name. He often signed his middle name as "Wyllis".

Both E. W. and his half-sister Ellen worked with his older half-brother, James when he founded The Detroit News in 1873. E. W. started as an office boy at the paper. In 1878, with loans from his half-brothers, E. W. went on to found The Penny Press (later the Cleveland Press) in Cleveland. With financial support from sister Ellen, he went on to begin or acquire some 25 newspapers. This was the beginning of a media empire that is now the E. W. Scripps Company.

E. W. would lend money to promising young, local newspaper publishers, and buy the most successful one, having 51% share of the paper. Once bought, he did not "sell out," but held on to the paper. A guiding tenet of E. W. was that local editors know best about running local newspapers. Editors were carefully groomed and given considerable autonomy. Among the innovations E. W. made were distributing newspapers to the suburbs and, with his brother James, of getting the bulk of income from advertisers instead of subscribers.

In 1907, Scripps created United Press Associations, later the UPI news service, from smaller regional news services. Scripps later said "I regard my life's greatest service to the people of this country to be the creation of the United Press", to provide competition to the Associated Press.