Name Robert Hoyt Role Journalist | Died 2003 | |
Robert G. Hoyt (1922 in Clinton, Iowa – 2003) was an American journalist, and the founder and first editor of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper focusing on the Catholic Church.
In 1964, he founded the National Catholic Reporter, because he wanted to bring the professional standards of secular news reporting to the Catholic press. Its circulation went to 100,000 in just a few years, leading other Catholic newspapers to adopt its probing standards of journalism as well. However, Hoyt left the newspaper in 1970.
His opposition to the Vietnam War led him to work for the presidential bids of Senator Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and Senator George McGovern in 1972. From 1977 to 1985, he was executive editor and subsequently editor in chief of Christianity & Crisis, a liberal ecumenical journal. He was also senior writer at Commonweal.