EUGENE–Washington newspaper publisher Ted Natt, who died in a helicopter crash a year ago, will be remembered Saturday, Sept. 23, when the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication names its new entry and plaza as the Ted M. Natt First Amendment Plaza.

The Longview, Wash., newspaperman, a 1963 UO journalism graduate, was widely recognized in the Northwest and nationally as co-owner, publisher and editor of a Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper and as an outspoken columnist who fiercely defended First Amendment rights to free speech.

At 9:30 a.m. ceremonies on Saturday in the newly completed plaza of Allen Hall,
1020 University St. on the UO campus, Natt’s family will unveil the memorial plaque for the plaza "given to this university by his loving family." The Natt family contributed $500,000 to the Allen Hall project in Ted Natt’s memory.

Ted Koenninger of The (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian will speak on behalf of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association. Other speakers will include UO President Dave Frohnmayer; Robert J. Caldwell, president of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and editor of The Oregonian’s editorial page; and Natt’s daughter Lori Sue (Natt) Mattson of Evanston, Ill.

"Given the history of the school and its link to newspapers, for me it’s just a really wonderful thing to have the plaza named after the editor of a family-owned Northwest newspaper whose passion for free speech was known not just regionally but nationally," says Tim Gleason, UO journalism school dean.

"Natt’s career and his lifelong championship of free speech rights should both inform and inspire future journalists," Gleason says. "The dedication plaque will encourage future generations to remember the challenge that the First Amendment presents to all journalists."

The inscription on the dedication plaque reads:

"He dedicated his professional life to the belief that without freedom of speech, our other freedoms would cease to exist. May we be as vigilant as he was in our defense of the First Amendment and its cherished principles, and as passionate as he was in contributing to the dialogue of our times."

David Natt of Longview, a 1993 UO journalism graduate and management consultant who worked with Ted Natt at the Longview Daily News, says his father was "quick to give an opinion" in his front page daily column, "but eager to publish anyone’s response. He always said something like ‘If you want to get back at Ted Natt, you can do it in his own paper.’ He found that exchange healthy."

The senior Natt was an active supporter of First Amendment initiatives in national organizations such as the Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He was editor and publisher of The Daily News from 1977 until 1999, when Westmedia Corp., a publishing group owned by the Natt family and employees of The Daily News, sold its holdings to Howard Publications. The paper won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for its coverage of the Mount St. Helens eruption.

Natt’s widow, Diane, says that Ted’s passion for "getting it right" helped his staff capture journalism’s highest honor, the Pulitzer, and fueled his support for journalism education.

"He tried to make a difference with young people, to ensure that they got first-hand experience with reporters, not just books and computers. He was a great advocate of summer internships at the paper and was very good at helping young people get a start."

Diane thinks Ted would be pleased to know the First Amendment plaza bears his name.

"It’s the entrance to the J-school, it’s the first impression people get as they walk through there," she says. "Knowing the number of times Ted himself walked in and out of there–it just seemed right to us."

—30—

#P-1301/Local,OrDailies,WaDailies