Newman, Barnett orig. Baruch Newman (b. Jan. 29, 1905, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. July 3, 1970, New York City) U.S. painter. Bom to Polish immigrant parents, he studied at the Art Students League and City College. With Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko, he cofounded the school called “Subject of the Artist” (1948), which held open sessions and lectures for other artists. He developed a style of mystical abstrac¬ tion and achieved his breakthrough with Onement I (1948), in which a single stripe (or “zip”) of orange vertically bisects a field of dark red. This austerely geometric style became his trademark and had a great influence on artists such as Ad Reinhardt and Frank Stella.
Newman, John Henry known as Cardinal Newman (b. Feb. 21, 1801, London, Eng.—d. Aug. 11, 1890, Birmingham, Warwick) English churchman and man of letters. He attended the University of Oxford, where in 1833 he became the leader of the Oxford Movement, which stressed the Catholic elements in the English religious tradition and sought to reform the Church of England. He was received into the Roman Catholic church in 1845, but he came under suspicion among the more rigorous clergy because of his quasi-liberal spirit. A challenge from Charles Kingsley prompted him to write an eloquent exposition of his spiritual history, the widely admired Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864). The work assured his place in the church, and in 1879 he became a cardinal- deacon. He also wrote theological works, religious poetry, and several hymns, including “Lead, Kindly Light.”
Newman, Paul (b. Jan. 26, 1925, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. film actor. He studied drama at Yale University and the Actors Studio and first appeared on Broadway in Picnic (1953). In 1954 he made his screen debut in the disastrous biblical epic The Silver Chalice. He won favourable notice in Somebody up There Likes Me (1956) and The Long Hot Sum-
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mer (1958). In many of his best-remembered roles, he captured the darker, less heroic aspects of a character’s nature, as in such successful films as The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Color of Money (1986; Academy Award), and Nobody’s Fool (1994). He directed and produced films such as Rachel, Rachel (1968) and The Glass Menagerie (1987), both of which starred his wife, Joanne Woodward. In 1982 he launched the successful “Newman’s Own” line of food products, with its profits going to a num¬ ber of charitable causes.
Newport Town (pop., 1995 est.: 22,000), Isle of Wight, in the historic county of Hampshire, England. It was probably the Roman settlement of Medina; there is no trace of Saxon settlement. The first charter was granted between 1177 and 1184, and the borough was incorporated in 1608. It is the Isle of Wight’s trade and agricultural centre.
Newport City (pop., 2000: 26,475) and port of entry, southeastern Rhode Island, U.S., at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. Founded in 1639 by colonists from Massachusetts, it became a haven for religious refugees. With Providence, it was the joint capital of the state until 1900. Newport has held many of the America's Cup yacht races, and it is a centre for naval edu¬ cation. It also is the site of one of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s mansions (The Breakers) and the Touro synagogue, which is the oldest in the U.S.
Newport Town, port, and county borough (pop., 2001 est.: 137,017), historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales, at the Bristol Channel mouth of the River Usk. By c. 1126 it was a medieval borough with a castle. The city was chartered in 1385. It was industrialized in the 19th century and was the scene of Chartist riots in 1839 (see Chartism). Industries include steel and aluminum.
Newport News City (pop., 2000: 180,150) and port of entry, south¬ eastern Virginia, U.S., at the mouth of the James River. The site was settled in 1621 by 50 colonists from Ireland. It was incorporated as a city in 1896 and was an important embarkation point in both World Wars. With Nor¬ folk and Portsmouth, it constitutes the Port of Hampton Roads. It is the site of one of the largest shipyards in the world, producing luxury liners, air¬ craft carriers, and nuclear-powered submarines.
Newry and Mourne District (pop., 2001: 87,058), southeastern Northern Ireland. Bordered by the Irish Sea and the republic of Ireland, it is divided in two by the Newry Canal, the first major canal in the Brit¬ ish Isles, built 1730-41. Limestone and granite are quarried in the Mourne Mountains. The administrative seat is at Newry.
news agency or news service or wire service Organization that gathers, writes, and distributes news to newspapers, periodicals, radio and television broadcasters, government agencies, and other users. It does not publish news itself but supplies news to subscribers, who, by sharing costs, obtain services they could not otherwise afford. All the mass media depend on agencies for the bulk of the news they carry. Some agencies focus on special subjects or on a local area or nation. Many news agen¬ cies are cooperatives, with members providing news from their area to a pool for general use. The largest news agencies are United Press Inter¬ national, Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
newscast Radio or television broadcast of news events. News gather¬ ing and broadcasting by the radio networks began in the mid-1930s and increased significantly during World War II. The television newscast began in 1948 with 15-minute programs that resembled movie newsreels. The current U.S. format employs a newscaster or anchorperson reading news stories, with interpolated audiotape (for radio) or videotape (for television) and live reports from remote journalists. Noted newscasters have included Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and David Brinkley.
Newsday Evening daily tabloid newspaper published in Long Island, N.Y. It was established in 1940, as the residential suburbs in Nassau and Suffolk counties began to expand. Following a liberal-independent policy, it has specialized in reporting serious local news. The newspaper itself has earned three Pulitzer Prizes for meritorious public service, and its writers and reporters have earned many more. Newsday is owned by the Tribune Co., which acquired the paper through its merger with the Times Mirror Co.
newsgroup Internet forum for discussion of specific subjects. News- groups are organized into subjects (e.g., automobiles); each typically has several subgroups (e.g., classic cars. Formula One racing cars). A person starts a threaded discussion by “posting” (uploading) an article; the
follow-up replies (including replies to replies) comprise the discussion. A newsgroup name usually consists of an abbreviation (e.g., “rec” for the recreation newsgroup) followed by subgroup names separated by dots (e.g., “rec.music.jazz”). Viewing and posting messages requires a news reader, a program that connects the user to an Internet news server. Most newsgroups are connected via Usenet, a worldwide network that uses the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). See also bulletin-board system.
newspaper Publication usually issued daily, weekly, or at other regu¬ lar times that provides news, views, features, and other information of public interest and often carries advertising. Forerunners of the modern newspaper appeared as early as ancient Rome (see Acta). More or less regular papers printed from movable type appeared in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands in the early 17th century. The first English daily was The Daily Courant (1702-35). Though preceded by official papers, James Franklin’s New-England Courant (1721) was the first independent news¬ paper in Britain’s North American colonies. By 1800 the principles of a free press and a basic formula for both serious and popular papers were taking root in much of Europe and the U.S. In the 19th century the num¬ ber of U.S. papers and their circulations rose dramatically, owing to wider literacy, broadening appeal, lower prices, and technological advances in typesetting, printing, communications, and transport. By late in the cen¬ tury, newspapers had achieved great power. Competition for readers often led to sensationalism and, in the 20th century, gave rise to the so-called tabloids (see yellow journalism). Since 1900 newspaper publishing world¬ wide has expanded greatly; in large countries it has experienced consoli¬ dation driven by media conglomerates or through the acquisitions of smaller papers by larger ones.