Alfred Balk (born July 24, 1930 in Oskaloosa, Iowa) is a magazine writer/editor and journalist-book author dedicated to media-improvement activities.

He was awarded journalism degrees at Northwestern University (B.S. 1952, M.S. 1953). Then followed newswriting at station WBBM (WBBM-TV), reporting at The Chicago Sun-Times, and writing freelance articles for major national magazines. He was a member of the Society of Magazine Writers, which elected him president in 1969.

In eight years’ full time freelancing his most influential articles appeared in the era’s leading magazines. For the weekly Saturday Evening Post, which for a time retained him under contract, he wrote on subjects such as Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, victims of a fallout-shelter craze, how a T.V. jackpot almost ruined the winners, defections among Protestant ministers, and the rise of Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam, co-authored with Alex Haley of future Roots and Autobiography of Malcolm X fame.

One Post article, “Confessions of a Block-Buster” (July 14-21, 1962), made legal history when, after the weekly’s demise a homeowners group sued Balk to compel disclosure of his confidential source. A U.S. District Court upheld his right to confidentiality, the Supreme Court declined to review the decision, and the press (May 8, 1973) pronounced the case a landmark.

For Harper’s, his subjects included zoning abuses, a builder who made integration pay, and two high-profile cover stories. One, a collaboration with then State Sen.Paul Simon on “The Illinois Legislature: A Study in Corruption” (Sept., 1964), spurred ethics reforms and vaulted Simon to national prominence, a U.S. Senate seat, and a legacy including helping foster President-to-be Barack Obama’s political rise. The other, “God Is Rich” (October 1967), on religious organizations’ tax exemptions, led to the book The Religion Business (John Knox Press) and, under a Foundation fellowship, a nationwide study The Free List: Property Without Taxes (Russell Sage Foundation), which Time, in a two-page report (May 3, 1971), described as “a penetrating new book.”

Among other prominent articles, for The Reader’s Digest he reported on nursing-home neglect, threats to public parkland, Great Lakes water problems, boating-boom safety hazards, and Thomas Edison remembered by a son; for The Reporter, the social significance of Ebony magazine founder John Johnson’s success; and for The New York Times Magazine, the “Dust Bowl” revisited.

He served on staffs at four magazines, during which he also wrote signed pieces: Editor at Columbia Journalism Review (1969-1973) and World Press Review (1973-1986); Feature Editor and Editor-at-Large at Saturday Review (1966-1970); and Managing Editor at IEEE Spectrum (1989-1990). He also was an Executive Committee member of the American Society of Magazine Editors and Overseas Press Club and consultant to the Twentieth Century Fund and Ford and John and Mary Markle Foundations.

After his last full time position, on the journalism faculty at Syracuse University, he wrote his eighth book, The Rise of Radio: From Marconi Through the Golden Age (McFarland, 2006). His stated purpose was to provide a one-volume “sweep of radio history” which could update, correct, and fill gaps in the field; offer “background and flavor"; place in sequence Golden Age program debuts; offer fresh insight into minorities and women in broadcasting; shed new light on formative contributions by Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, and San Francisco; and pinpoint how and why the Age’s programs and values died.” Among praise for the book, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, who began in radio, has called it “fabulousand the research is stunning”; former FCC Commissioner Newton Minow, “excellent”; and Golden Age writing legend Norman Corwin, destined “to live long in the history of radio.”