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By Shannon Mullane (MJour鈥�19)

On April 21, 1922, the University of Colorado Board of Regents approved the new Department of Journalism and set in motion a century of journalism education in Colorado.

That fall, the university鈥檚 first four-year journalism degree program launched with two professors and about 25 students. Over the past 100 years, the program has seen many changes: It has taken up residence in numerous buildings across campus, shifted its organizational structure and pursued journalistic excellence amid the biggest historical events of the 20th and 21st centuries.

That first semester of classes laid the foundation of the College of Media, Communication and Information, which houses the current journalism department at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. In late 2021, faculty, staff, students and historians took to the archives to learn more about the department鈥檚 history, searching through old yearbooks, photography collections, newspaper archives and historical documents. Their research resurfaced details about the department鈥檚 history that help connect the past to journalism education today.

CMCI kicked off a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary on April 21 in 21st-century style: with social media posts, an interactive multimedia timeline, a website and online articles.

鈥淚t鈥檚 such an honor to celebrate the extraordinary work by journalism students and faculty, now and in the past,鈥� said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI. 鈥淭he journalism industry has seen tremendous change over the past 10 decades, but our goal has been the same: teach students to find truth and hold power to account. As we move into the next century, we鈥檙e excited to continue that pursuit鈥攎aybe in ways we can鈥檛 even imagine today!鈥�

The first years

The war and Red Scare

The 1920s and 1930s were marked by new buildings, expanding departments and financial blows. The Boulder campus even faced near-closure as it vied for support in the Colorado Legislature and for limited state funds during the economic turbulence of the Great Depression, according to听The University of Colorado 1876鈥�1976.

In the 1920s, The Silver and Gold issued editorials condemning the Ku Klux Klan, which held power in the state at the time. In 1937, the journalism department became the College of Journalism, housed within the College of Arts and Sciences.

As the 1940s rolled into the 1950s, Boulder鈥檚 population grew to about 19,900 residents, including 7,700 university students. During World War II, the campus was used for education and as a naval installation. In 1953, The Silver and Gold ended, and the next student publication, the Colorado Daily, began.

Student newspapers covered the Red Scare, the hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War, as it seeped into campus life. The state Legislature demanded a sweeping investigation of Communist influences at state schools, including CU.

Melvin Mencher (Jour鈥�47), who taught journalism at Columbia University for 30 years, landed in Boulder in the early 1940s after a stint in the Navy. He picked 麻豆免费版下载because it had a good journalism department鈥攁nd journalism and dentistry were the two careers that escaped unscathed from the Great Depression, Mencher said.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to spend my life looking into people鈥檚 mouths, so I went into journalism,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 grew up in a practical era.鈥�

During one of his first classes in 1946, Mencher remembered Professor Zell Mabee鈥攁n alumnus who studied journalism at 麻豆免费版下载before graduating in 1924鈥攈anding him a fact sheet so he could type up an article. The only issue was that he did not know how to use a typewriter. Plus, the machines in the journalism department had blank keys, he said.

鈥淚 was terrified because I had no idea,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have a system of grading where you lost five points for every typographical error. Of course, my first paper was something like minus 85.鈥�

During his studies, most of the classroom assignments relied on fact sheets. Students rarely reported in the Boulder community, he said. He described the journalism of the time as 鈥渉e-said, she-said.鈥�

鈥淲e just quoted people, and we didn鈥檛 dig beneath the surface,鈥� said Mencher, who wrote News Reporting and Writing, a journalism textbook used by more than a quarter of a million students. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 journalism student should be dedicated to digging.鈥�

Watergate and new journalism

In the 1960s and 1970s, the journalism program, formerly housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, became a separate entity called the School of Journalism. In 1964, the school launched its master鈥檚 degree program and began a broadcast news sequence two years later. Meanwhile, newswriting practices were shifting during the New Journalism era, when writers started incorporating literary techniques into their articles.

In 1970, John Leach began his studies as a math major. Realizing that wasn鈥檛 the right fit, Leach soon turned to journalism.

鈥淚鈥檓 the only former math major I鈥檝e ever met among any journalists or journalism students,鈥� said Leach (Jour鈥�74), who was a reporter and editor for more than 40 years. He is now a journalism lecturer in CMCI.

Taking classes in Macky Auditorium, journalism students took up the tools of the trade: pens, paper, phones, typewriters and photography darkrooms. Broadcast equipment was relatively primitive, and tape recorders were still in the not-so-distant future, Leach said.

News reporting was primarily event-driven: Reporters would go to a meeting, find a story, turn it in. But after the Watergate scandal, students鈥擫each included wanted to investigate waste, fraud and abuse, to dig deeper and to be more skeptical, he said.

In one memorable class, Reporting of Public Affairs with faculty member John Mitchell, students completed nine stories and covered Boulder City Council. If the council meeting ended at 2 a.m., the article was still due at 5 p.m. that day. Points were deducted if it was late, and students failed if they had any factual errors in their stories.

鈥淚t frankly caused some people to leave journalism, which might鈥檝e been healthy, and was legendary in my era,鈥� Leach said. 鈥淚 went from that to covering government politics for the Boulder Daily Camera, and boy, I was ready to roll based on that course.鈥�

The rise of the internet

In 1986, the school was renamed the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The next year, NewsTeam Boulder aired its first 30-minute newscast, laying the groundwork for a long-running, student-run TV broadcast program. In 1989, the SJMC launched its postdoctoral degree program.

Then, the rise of the internet in the 1990s fundamentally transformed the news industry.

The flow of advertising revenue morphed or dropped, in many cases cratering newsroom budgets. As publications consolidated, daily newspapers began to shutter鈥攄ropping from about 1,600 daily publications in 1990 to 1,380 in 2012, based on U.S. census data.

Print articles became online news packages stuffed with slideshows, videos and other multimedia components. Journalists had access to more databases and reporting resources online.

In classrooms, lessons on page design gave way to multimedia editing and web design. Students learned about updating online breaking news stories over time and how to incorporate audio, video and interactive graphics.

鈥淚 went from newspapers that had one or two deadlines a day to doing the web, and it鈥檚 like a deadline every minute essentially,鈥� Leach said.