University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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FALL NUMBER, 1948 at the same time the United Press wire ticks out state, national, and international news at the rate of 40,000 words a day. Once the stories have been checked and double checked they pass from the hands of the capable slot man, who is the managing editor or his assistant, to the linotype operators who change the copy into type for the printers. When the paper has gone to bed and the presses start to turn out the neatly trimmed and folded papers, the managing editor and his staff pray that no errors, typographical or factual, have escaped their attention. But a mistake made once is usually avoided the second time. for the task yet to come. It will be the job of these same University Daily Kansan reporters and editors to translate tomorrow ' s domestic and foreign happenings in our great metro- politan and rural papers, as well as through other media. They will step into the professional ranks already made famous by a host of alumni. Take Bill White himself. He attended K. U. And the late Raymond Clapper, famed Washington columnist and one-time chief of the Washington bureau of the United Press, who was killed while serving as a war corespondent in World War II. Ben Hibbs, now editor of the Saturday Evening Post, was an editor The Heart of the News Room, the Slot for Managing Editor and Staff A newspaper is not complete, though, without including the business aspect of advertising and management. The University Daily Kansan adver- tising department, with Mr. Lee S. Cole, as advisor, also provides a training ground for tomorrow ' s ad- vertising men and women. These students solicit ads and compose them as lab work for their courses. Your University paper is entirely staffed by news and advertising majors journalism students who receive no financial rewards for their efforts. The only compensation received by these students is the satisfaction 1 of being able to serve now and prepare of the University Daily Kansan a quarter of a cen- tury ago. Roy Roberts, president of the Kansas City Star, is another outstanding graduate. Chet Shaw, executive editor of Newsweek; Robert Reid, editor of Country Gentlemen; Earl Johnson, general news- manager and vice-president of the United Press; col- umnist Doris Fleeson; Brock Pemberton, theatrical producer; author Jerome Beatty; and more than 30 publishers of Kansas newspapers. These are but a few of the personalities who have worked on the University newspaper and who have seen the growth of Kansas journalism.

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I K. U. Journalism Hangs Its Shingle Shops (which the School may call Flint Hall and occupy by 1950), run the school itself, teach, and still have time left for his family. But what about the future of the new school? The primary objective, as the dean said, will be to give the student sufficient technical training so that he can go into newspaper work or whatever phase of journalism he chooses with a little head start over the fellow who has not had any technical training. But more important, what the dean likes to empha- size within the School is the channeling and inte- grating of general knowledge that students should obtain from their liberal arts courses. He is also looking forward to the day when the School will ex- pand its facilities to meet the need for progressive education in all of the communication arts motion pictures, radio, television, newspaper, facsimile, and publishing. Working hand-in-hand with the new school will be the William Allen White Foundation, supported by a trust fund which already amounts to $70,000 and which the promoters hope will reach at least a half million dollars. The foundation was organized by Bill White ' s friends to enlarge the extra-curricular activities of the school. The Foundation will be limited only by the vision of its faculty committees and the resources of its budget. The important task which the Foundation will attempt to undertake is indeed significant and unique. It will gather and publish pertinent papers which will provide up-to- date documentary teaching material in the entire field of the communication arts. The Foundation may also create casebooks to be called the William Allen White Problem Books which will be built from actual problems in the journalistic world. This is a project which will not only aid K. U. journalists but which will be a new mile- stone in the progress of journalistic educa- tion in the country. The books will be available to educational institutions throughout the nation. Undoubtedly this data will advance the training of com- petent young students in their profession. Furthermore, the Foundation will sponsor lectures, seminars, and roundtable discus- sions at K.U. by distinguished persons in journalism. Playing an active part in the school, as it has since 1912, the University Daily Kansan wil continue to serve as a practical laboratory in the training of neophyte reporters. Under the guidance of Prof. Emil L. Telfel, the news- paper ' s faculty news advisor, the Daily Kansan has for the second consecutive year received an All- American award, the highest given by the Associated Collegiate Press. From the time a story is conceived in the mind of the city editor until the time you read it, reporters, copy-readers, and editors have been busy getting prac- tical experience in newspaper work. At 9 a.m., the city-room is tense with activity as reporters hammer out their stories which the copy-readers check and re-check for style and errors at the city-desk, while At Work on the Linotypes X

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10 It does not take a stretch of the imagination to realize that the life of a culture or civilization is mirrored by the wake of its attainments. So too, from the early days of the University, and of the spark which flamed into the School we have today, the University Daily Kansan is that mirror which unfolds the history of our very own community. Your student-run newspaper can account for the Leonard Snyder Gets Tip from Professor Telfel Setting Up the Galleys history of the University in its files for nearly three quarters of a century. But it wasn ' t until Dr. E. M. Hopkins started a regular newspaper 55 years ago that the University Daily Kansan became established. Although there were several literary, news, and University Matter publications in existence before this time, it remained for Dr. Hopkins, to start the THE JAYHAWKER first journalism course in 1894. It was he who started the Semi-Weekly Kansan then, until, in 1907 under Dr. Hopkins and Leon N. Flint, Professor Emeritus of the Journalism Department, the Kansan emerged into a tri-weekly, which was changed to a daily in 1912 with its present name. While still part of the English departement one of the early lecturers of journalism was Charles M. Harger, who taught here from 1905-10. At the time Mr. Harger was lecturer, Newspaper Writing was a three hour course survey- ing the entire field of newspaper work in- cluding practice in reporting, editorial and feature writing and proof-reading. Mr. Harger and Professor Flint directed the journalism classes during the years 1907-09 when the courses began to as- sume some independence from the English department. Merle Thorpe became the first chair- man of the newly established Department of Journalism when Mr. Harger left the University in 1911. Mr. Harger, who was editor of the Abilene Daily Reflector since 1888 until he came to K.U., was President of the State Board of Correction in 1915- 16 and was also a member of the State Board of Regents in 1925-38, serving as its chairman since 1930. In that year when he became president of the State Historical Society. Mr. Harger was a well-known contributor to many national magazines, including Century, Harper ' s, and Schibner ' s. Taking over Mr. Harger ' s duties and responsibilities in 1911 as chairman of the Department of Journalism, Merle Thorpe saw the enrollment in the depart- ment increase from 50 to 216. Now a member of the Board of Directors of Cities Service, he left the University in 1916 to become the editor of Nation ' s Business. While here Mr. Thorpe directed the organization of the department in the present building. Here he developed new courses and super- vised the installation of machinery in the Daily Kan- san ' s plant. While he was chairman of the depart- ment the staff members were Leon N. Flint, now professor emeritus; Joseph W. Murray, now manag- ing editor of the Lawrence Journal-World; Saul