George Seldes

Born on November 16, 1890, in Alliance Colony, New Jersey, George Seldes began his journalism career at 19 and went on to work as a foreign correspondent, editor, author, and media critic. He reported from Europe during and after World War I, interviewed Vladimir Lenin, and was expelled from both the Soviet Union and Italy after challenging official censorship and political power.

After leaving the Chicago Tribune, Seldes wrote books on journalism, fascism, the arms industry, and the press. In 1940, he co-founded In Fact, a weekly newsletter that investigated corporate wrongdoing, the tobacco industry, anti-union activity, and stories he believed mainstream newspapers ignored. The publication ran until 1950 and reached a circulation of 176,000.

Seldes continued writing into his later years, publishing his autobiography Witness to a Century in 1987. He received a professional excellence award in 1980 and a George Polk Award for lifetime achievement in 1981. He died in Windsor, Vermont, on July 2, 1995, at the age of 104.