George Barry Bingham built an influential and highly respected communications empire in Louisville, Kentucky, then dismantled it shortly before his death. Owner of the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Louisville Times, a major printing company (Standard Gravure), WHAS-TV, and two radio stations, Bingham was at the forefront of liberal causes, a strong advocate of civil rights, education, and the Democratic party. Seventy percent of the households in Louisville subscribed to Bingham's nationally recognized newspapers during his tenure as editor (1945-1971). Also during that period his newspapers won eight Pulitzer Prizes, and the Courier-Journal was twice listed among the top ten newspapers in the United States by Time magazine. Bingham's reputation for fairness, evenhandedness, and forthrightness stood in stark contrast to internal family dissension, which became a matter of public interest. Toward the end of his life, concerns over management became widely known and eventually influenced the sale of the media...