Known as “Mazz” to the staff, he brought a hard-news approach to USA TODAY in the 1990s.
Former USA TODAY editor David Mazzarella, who helped propel the newspaper to its strongest circulation years in the late 1990s, passed away on July 17 after complications resulting from a fall. He was 87.
Mazzarella, a seasoned war correspondent, editor and AP reporter in Europe, was with USA TODAY from its improbable beginnings in the early 1980s to an impactful five-year stint as editor in chief from 1994-99 at the dawn of the digital age.
Known as “Mazz” to the staff, he brought a hard-news approach to USA TODAY, too often known more for its bright graphics and layouts rather than its journalism. Under Mazzarella, the newspaper’s approach expanded what had been pushed by former editors, featuring investigations into air bag safety, the wave of arsons at Black churches and reports on AIDS in Africa.
Mazzarella had a street fighter’s instinct, honed during his years as a circulation manager in 1983, where he was tasked with persuading hostile New York City union bosses and politicians to allow USA TODAY boxes at hundreds of street corners. Rapidly replacing the vending machines as they were destroyed by M-80 firecrackers or otherwise vandalized, Mazzarella said later: “We wore them down.”
“He had competed in New York. He knew what being disrespected was about,” former USA TODAY president and publisher Tom Curley said in a 2007 interview for “The Making of McPaper,” a book about USA TODAY. “And he had a fix on what the paper needed to do with its soul, which was to get better at news.”
Named newspaper’s editor in 1994
He was named head of USA TODAY’s International editions before being selected as the newspaper’s editor in 1994. Few in the newsrooms knew who he was, but Mazzarella made his mark immediately, insisting on a strict adherence to professionalism, clarity and openness to presenting fresh political takes on Washington stories.
At one point, Mazzarella ordered the newsroom to tamp down on its wall-to-wall coverage of OJ Simpson, a prescient realization that the story was becoming more circus than courtroom. And he once wondered why a story about Madonna’s new hair color was a story at all.
“I spent many hours with him when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke,” remembered former Washington editor Bill Sternberg. “He was focused on ensuring that the coverage was fair and competitive, not lurid.”
Mazzarella instituted late afternoon “bullpen” meetings, where reporters and editors were asked to explain why their stories deserved to be on Page One. The questioning was so precise that some staffers were shaken by the inquiries. “Woe is you if you went in unprepared,” former National Editor Lee Ann Hamilton recalled.
“Great coverage became less the exception, more the expected,” former managing editor of News Hal Ritter said. “He believed in us,’’ agreed former executive editor Susan Weiss.
“I would like to think that era awakened some talent among the staff,” Mazzarella said in an interview later.
The hard-news approach seemed to work on the bottom line. Circulation was often 2 million copies a day or higher, and ad revenue soared.
‘Best newspaper editor no one’s ever heard of’
“USA TODAY is getting perceptibly better all the time,” wrote the American Journalism Review in 1997, during the heart of Mazzarella’s influence. Mazzarella, said media critic Howard Kurtz, might be “the best newspaper editor in America no one’s ever heard of.”
He did this while never losing a ready smile and amiable relations with most staff members, even as the specter of layoffs began to infect the industry as a whole.
Mazzarella was proud of his Italian-American heritage (born in Newark), often recalling his favorite restaurants in Rome, writing a memoir about his mother, Benigna, titled, “Always Eat the Hard Crust of the Bread,” and emphasizing the third syllable when he pronounced political correspondent Richard Benedetto’s name.
Said Benedetto upon hearing of Mazzarella’s death: “Not only was he one of the best newsmen ever, he also was a kind, sincere and generous soul, a loyal and trusted friend and mentor, an impeccable role model, a credit to his Italian American heritage and just plain one of the kindest gentlemen I ever met.”
Mazzarella retired in 1999, just as the newspaper’s focus began to shift to digital platforms. He became an ombudsman for Stars and Stripes, the Defense Department’s daily newspaper, and an advocate for the newspaper’s First Amendment rights within the closely watched military environment.
Mazzarella is survived by his wife, Christine Wells, a former senior vice president of The Freedom Forum; three daughters, and two grandchildren. Mazzarella and Kitty Uksti divorced in 1995.
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, Aug. 2 at 11 a.m. at Holy Rosary Church, 595 Third Street St. NW, Washington, D.C.
