Society of Professional Journalists marks 110th anniversary where it all started

Friday, August 23, 2019
DePauw special adviser to the president and former news anchor Ken Owen speaks on the importance of discerning credible news during a ceremony celebrating the 110th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Banner Graphic/Brand Selvia

“He serves best who serves the truth.”

This sentiment adorns a patinaed bronze monument near historic East College, one that celebrates the founding roots of a professional organization committed to promoting freedom of the press and journalistic integrity.

During a brief ceremony held at this spot late Friday morning, members of the DePauw community celebrated a milestone for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), which was founded on campus more than 110 years ago.

The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for journalists with roughly 6,000 members. Its national headquarters are located in Indianapolis.

The 15-minute program took place on the north side of East College, the sight where 10 DePauw student-journalists ceremoniously marched into the building in April of 1909 and co-founded Sigma Delta Chi.

One of them was Eugene C. Pulliam, a 1910 graduate who would go on to become a major publisher, owning or operating 46 newspapers including The Indianapolis Star. In doing so, he established one of the most prominent newspaper families in the country.

Besides recognizing his founding the university’s student-run newspaper (the first in Indiana) and his longtime service as a trustee, he was inducted into DePauw’s Media Hall of Fame in 1995. The Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media is also named in his honor.

Pulliam and his peers wished that what would eventually become the Society of Professional Journalists would be open to those “dedicated to journalism or other literary work as a life’s profession.”

The program included remarks from DePauw President Mark McCoy as well as Ken Owen, a 1982 graduate and SPJ member who is a noted former journalist in his own right. Jonathan Nichols-Pethick, the Pulliam Center’s director, began and closed the ceremony.

Comments on the anniversary and what the organization stands for were also provided by SPJ’s national president Alex Tarquinio, as well as John Russell, who is the current president of the Society’s Indiana chapter.

McCoy began the ceremony by briefly positioning DePauw and its connection with the SPJ, and how the education students receive is vital to their work. He also invoked how this education promotes the “core values” of critical journalism amid continuing changes in technology and techniques.

“We’re proud of our connection to SPJ, and proud of our student media that carry on the traditions of excellence that this organization represents,” McCoy said. “(This comes with) our commitment to educating the whole person, and to view that education from a global perspective with all its complexity.

“There is perhaps no better training ground for journalists than the liberal arts,” he added.

The SPJ has undergone wide and necessary changes since it was founded by those 10 students as an all-male fraternity at DePauw University.

Tarquinio noted in her remarks that the organization finally admitted women into its ranks 50 years ago, after persistent protests from women journalists with signs that read “The fourth estate is out-of-date” and “Journalists are women too.”

SPJ National President Alex Tarquinio talks about changes the organization has undergone during the ceremony.
Banner Graphic/Brand Selvia

Another change she highlighted occurred in 1960 when a national convention approved to remodel the fraternity into a professional organization that would include both student and working chapters. Tarquinio stated that this and other “metamorphoses” enhanced the Society by extending membership.

“In the current climate of uncertainty for our profession, we have many reasons to be optimistic about SPJ’s future,” she believed. “Today, our dedicated volunteers exude the same spirit of sacrifice and faith in the power of journalism as those 10 young men who entered this chapel on April 17, 1909.”

Though he was open about not being a journalism major in college, Russell said McCoy’s remarks harkened back to his own engagement with the liberal arts. He was also thankful to have the opportunity to come to DePauw and see “where SPJ grew up.”

“I’ve been a journalist for over 30 years; I’ve been an SPJ member for many years; I’ve been chapter president for two years, and this is my first time to the birthplace of SPJ,” he said.

Russell provided further that the ethics expounded by the organization must continue to set journalists who set its high standards. He also implied that it was imperative to support the next generation of professionals through scholarships for students.

In his remarks on the significance of the anniversary and the mission of the press, Owen provided seeming observations from his viewpoint as a professional newsman who eventually came back to his alma mater.

“We are sitting and standing on what is hallowed ground for a vital part of our republic and our world - the pursuit of truth,” he began.

Owen briefly spoke on the occasion when the 14-foot monument honoring Sigma Delta Chi’s founding was dedicated in April of 1967. It was a ceremony which received national attention, and Eugene C. Pulliam, not quite 78 years old, was also present.

“The world needs him and more Barney Kilgores, and Jim Stewarts and Jack McWethys, all DePauw graduates,” he strongly opined. “Especially now. Today, each of us has the potential power of CBS News or The New York Times. But are we each up to the task?”

Owen provided an interesting comparison regarding the consumption of information and news - and whether information can be contextualized and considered trustworthy.

Through his example, information can be akin to a pork chop spoiling on the side of the road. It may be “fresh,” but is it healthy?

“We need to be discriminating consumers of information – weighing what we read, see and hear and seeking background and context,” Owen said. “Face value is that pork chop in the sun.”

Owen further provided that he would advocate for schools to teach more about the role of media and how it works, and about how news in general is gathered. Then, students can ask the important questions: What is the source? Do they have a bias? Are there other sources reporting this?

“Simple questions, whether asked by reporters or the people who consume their work, matter more than ever,” he stated finally.

After the ceremony concluded, attendees were invited to a reception held inside the Pulliam Center.

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