The
American Society of Newspaper Editors formed after two United States publications took the newspaper industry to task. In January 1922,
The Atlantic Monthly featured two articles by
Frederick Lewis Allen and
Moorfield Storey which were critical of the way in which newspapers were published, and requested change. After reading the articles,
Casper Yost — the longtime editor of the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat and himself a respected
journalist — saw the need for forming an organization of editors willing to combat criticism. Yost wrote to a few dozen editors soliciting support. The responses were positive and, just a month later, in February 1922, a small meeting was held in
Chicago. Attendees included Yost and editors from
Cleveland,
Detroit, and Chicago. They gathered to discuss action they could take for the advancement of the news and editorial side, to develop a constitution and a
code of ethics, and to launch a recruiting campaign for the group. The editors called a meeting in
New York that April, when editors would be joining their
publishers and congregating for the annual
American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) meeting (despite no formal mention of them by ANPA in its bulletins). Their efforts were so successful that by October nearly 100 charter members had signed up. The organization amended its bylaws and changed its name to the
American Society of News Editors in April, 2009. In 2012, the ASNE entered into a partnership with the
Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism and moved its headquarters from
Reston, Virginia, to
Columbia, Missouri. In 2016, the Association of Opinion Journalists was merged with ASNE. In 2018, a merger of ASNE with Associated Press Media Editors was announced. From this merger, the
News Leaders Association was formed. ==Organizational goals==