Print May Be Dead, But National Underwriter Deserves A Proper Burial

The demise of the insurance industry's most influential publication after 127 years should have a more worthy obituary

I was surprised how hard it hit me last week when I received the final print copy of National Underwriter’s Property & Casualty edition in the mail. After nearly 127 years, readers will no longer be able to hold NU in their hands.  But while going digital was perhaps inevitable in the Internet Age, given plummeting ad sales as well as rising paper and postage costs, I’m upset that NU’s demise in print was handled so cavalierly, and offer up this blog as a more deserving obituary.

I nearly missed the announcement that the print edition was being put to bed once and for all, camouflaged by a banal headline on one of NU’s e-newsletters about an unrelated web event. A later online version cheerfully declared: “The best of NU, Claims magazines is now at PropertyCasualty360.com,” with an awkward subhead burying the lead: “Meet the 2023 Agency of the Year Award winners, and say farewell to our magazines.” While the final December 2023 edition featured a more overt acknowledgment in the editor’s column, headlined: “All Good Things Must Come To An End,” nothing on the cover heralded the last paper version as a collector’s item, and no other mention was made within the issue about the publication’s storied history or what’s being lost.

For those of us who have lived and breathed insurance for decades, the death of the industry’s most influential print publication demands more attention and respect. I wish the current editors would’ve made a bigger deal of this, and perhaps reached out to their predecessors for quotes or columns about what NU meant to them and the industry at large. But since they did not, I’ll take this opportunity as a 29-year veteran of NU and its Editor In Chief until 2010 to deliver a more worthy eulogy and give this distinguished trade newsmagazine a proper burial.

NU, like insurance, was front and center throughout history

The demise of NU prompted me to review its 244-page Centennial edition, which I helped edit in March 1997.  What struck me right off the bat was the impressive statement of purpose reproduced in the first few pages, written by NU’s founder, E.J. Wohlgemuth, in the inaugural edition of Feb. 4, 1897. I shared this inspiring pronouncement with every reporter hired to emphasize NU’s commitment to truth and quality journalism:

“Where the interests of the insurance business and the public it serves, after making every possible effort to harmonize those interests, conflict, The National Underwriter believes that the best interests of the insurance business can only be successful if it is conducted on the basis of the truest and best service of which it is capable to its clients and the public. This, I take it, is a fundamental principle and the one which has kept The National Underwriter from being a mere paid organ of special interests. Its policies are based on the broad foundation of good citizenship and the recognition that insurance, as well as all other business, exists primarily not for the men who are engaged with it, but for the people whom they serve.”

I still get choked up reading that credo. It’s why I posted the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics on my office door for all to see. It’s why we called out the industry in our editorials and opinion columns when they didn’t live up to these standards.

For example, after a busload of insurers were driven around an underserved inner city neighborhood that consumer advocates and regulators cited as the victim of redlining, NU published an editorial featuring a cartoon of wide-eyed tourists on safari looking out the bus windows, then slammed them for not getting out and walking the streets to speak with local agents, homeowners, small-business owners, and individual consumers unable to get affordable coverage or policies at any price.

Leafing through the Centennial issue, with sections devoted to each decade, I saw coverage of the insurance implications of some of the most important events in U.S. and world history—including the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (after which Lloyd’s of London famously wired to “pay all our policyholders in full, irrespective of the terms of their policies”), the sinking of the Titanic, the stock market crash, and The Great Depression, as well as more recent events such as the 1960s civil rights movement, the emergence of consumer advocates in the 1970s, and the start of the tech revolution in the 1980s. Beyond the Centennial edition, I flashed back to our coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attack, in which the World Trade Center towers were destroyed by hijacked jets across the Hudson River from our Hoboken, N.J. office.

The past is prologue for insurance journalism

I realize journalism goes on without print publications, and I wish the current crew of NU the best of luck in making as much of an impact digitally as my generation did on paper. But I know that won’t be easy because journalism in general and insurance trade journalism in particular has lost more than its print products. It’s lost so many people—the reporters, editors, and support staff with insurance experience and expertise producing news and analysis that made for more informed readers. The skeleton crews of today’s trade publications are no match for the staffing we enjoyed for most of my tenure.

Seeing all the bylines in our Centennial issue, I was reminded how blessed I was to have so many savvy beat reporters such as my dear friend David M. Katz, who pioneered NU’s risk management coverage, making sure the corporate buyers’ perspective was represented. Lisa Howard dove headfirst into the esoteric yet critical world of insurance regulation. Susanne Sclafane, an actuary herself, was our first data scientist, bringing a vital statistical skillset to coverage of the industry’s finances and operations. Tom Maher covered insurance marketing with a cynical edge and a wicked sense of humor. Colleen Mulcahy and Lee Ann Gjertsen followed in my footsteps as agent/broker editors, years after my first bylined story in 1981 cited a study predicting that insurance agents would soon go the way of the milkman.

We also had regional bureaus covering developments in the south (out of Atlanta), Midwest (Chicago), and Far West (Northern California), while going global when Lisa Howard moved to the other side of the pond to launch our London office. And then there was Don Heyl, an artist who breathed life into our graphics and covers (and who created my famous caricatures—the last of which is at the end of this blog).

Our pride and joy was our heralded Washington bureau, led initially by Mary Jane Fisher (known as the Helen Thomas of insurance journalism) and Steve Brostoff, but later manned by a legend in his own right, Arthur D. Postal—better known as “Dave” to his friends, colleagues, and wide network of sources. I had lost touch with Dave since I left NU to become the Insurance Research Leader at Deloitte but reached out on Nov. 13 with the news that NU’s print edition was headed for the dustbin of history. Ten days later he was gone at the age of 82. I’ll always treasure his response in our final email exchange: “During your tenure, the NU provided the insurance industry with the most detailed and analytical coverage of all the pubs dealing with the industry. It is so sad that is all in the past.”

On LinkedIn, I wrote a brief tribute that I think can do double-duty in celebrating the legacy of NU’s contribution as a whole: “Dave covered Washington’s impact on the world of insurance like nobody’s business. He delved into the nitty gritty of insurance legislation and regulation with gusto. He was known by everyone lobbying at the Capitol and always got the inside scoop. Dave was quirky and could be a handful for editors, but that’s what you could say about most good shoe leather reporters. The bottom line is that he delivered the goods, and those in the know couldn’t wait to read whatever he came up with next.”

May Dave and NU’s print edition never be forgotten, and may they both rest in peace.