Roy W. Howard was an American newspaperman with a long association with E. W. Scripps Company. He was president of E. W. Scripps Company and the United Press, and chairman of Scripps Howard Newspapers.
He began his newspaper career as a paperboy in Indianapolis, Indiana, but quickly moved up. He was a reporter for the Indianapolis Star, then became New York correspondent for Scripps-McRae Newspapers. He quickly made a name for himself and, in 1912, had worked his way up to president of United Press.
During the First World War, he served as a war correspondent in Europe, and accidentally sent a false report of the Armistice four days before it was actually signed. Howard's reputation survived and in 1917 he became a Scripps partner, whose name appeared in one of the Scripps subsidiary companies, the Scripps Howard News Service.
He moved to Scripps newspapers in 1920, and, by 1922, he was leading the company, E. W. Scripps Company a position he kept for four decades. On November 3, 1922, the Scripps-McRae League was renamed Scripps-Howard Newspapers to recognize Howard.