Eric Newton

Eric Newton is an American journalist, writer and media consultant.

He is a consultant for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, an organization created by one of the founding families behind the Knight Ridder newspaper group.

From 2015 to 2020, Newton was Innovation Chief at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He held the rank of professor of practice and worked closely with the school’s leadership to drive new innovative initiatives at Cronkite News, the school’s multiplatform news operation.

In 2001, Newton joined Knight Foundation as director of journalism initiatives. He oversaw grant development and expanded the journalism and media innovation program. In 2006, he was promoted to vice president/journalism. In 2011, he served as a senior adviser to Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen, working on special projects and endowment grants, and after that became a consultant for the foundation.

Newton became involved in the 2005 Seigenthaler incident after replacing a vandalized English Wikipedia biography of John Seigenthaler Sr. with a copyrighted official biography. After that was removed for violating English Wikipedia policy, Newton's subsequent edits explaining how he had tried to correct English Wikipedia also were rejected as a violation of English Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Provided by Wikipedia